Crazy
by skydancer-earthwalker
Summary: After seeing what love did to her best friend, Dakota knew better than to fall in with Sam Uley's crowd. Still, even with everything else going on in her life, she can't help but find herself drawn to a certain member of Sam's band of followers. Will she learn from Leah's mistakes, or will she follow her instincts? Either way, she'll end up driving herself crazy.
1. First Impressions

"Thank you for stopping by!" Over time, Dakota had perfected her retail voice to the point that she almost fooled herself into believing she was as chipper as she sounded.

When she realized she was alone in the front of the store, however, she plopped down onto the stool behind the counter and sighed in relief. She might've been a good actress, but that didn't mean it wasn't exhausting. Even though it was just a summer job, Dakota felt like she was fighting exhaustion at every turn. She had no one to blame but herself, though, so she tried not to complain about it very often.

The bell above the door jingled, signaling the arrival of yet another person Dakota would have to pretend to be happy to see. She stifled a groan and stood up, pulling a plastic smile that didn't reach her eyes at all. "Anything I can help you with today?"

"Kota, it's me," a familiar voice called out from behind a shelf. "Chill out."

"Oh, thank god," she grumbled, flopping back onto her stool. "What are you doing in this part of town?"

Leah Clearwater poked her head around the aisle, munching on a bag of chips Dakota knew she had no intention of paying for. "Gotta go pick Seth up from a wedding, wanted to see if you'd tag along with me so I don't kill him. Plus, Ma wants to see you."

"I don't get off until 9:00."

"… _Kota._ It's 9:30. That's why I'm here."

She looked at the clock, surprised to see it was actually a little later than when she was supposed to clock out. "Oh, shit. My bad."

Leah strolled up to the counter and tossed the empty bag of chips into the trashcan at Dakota's feet. "So, you coming? We can stop by your place first and get you some clothes, and then go pick up the irritant."

She didn't bother defending Seth (he really _could_ get annoying), instead choosing to call over her shoulder at her manager in the back room. "Marnie, it's 9:00! I'm outta here!"

Without waiting for her boss's response, Dakota punched her time card into the ancient machine and jogged out the door behind Leah, the tinkling bell in the doorway bidding them farewell.

0o0

Dakota had met the Clearwaters not long after she had moved to Forks with her mother, right after the divorce. She had been walking through town trying to make sense of things when a car ran into a ditch right in front of her, almost mowing her down. The driver of said vehicle happened to be none other than an 11-year-old Seth Clearwater, who would repeat the story of the dare that caused the whole situation to Dakota's mother at least 10 times before the woman got tired of dealing with it and decided not to press charges.

Instead, Seth mowed their lawn every week that entire summer to make up for the worry he caused, and his mother Sue agreed with that punishment. In fact, she agreed with it so much that she demanded Leah help her little brother with the yard work, seeing as it was her dare that sparked the fire in the first place. When Dakota saw the other girl out in her yard with Seth, she knew she was looking at the mastermind behind Seth's grand mistake. She walked right outside and grabbed a rake, helping Leah pile up all of the cut grass and put it in garbage bags.

Dakota and Leah hit it off instantly—both witty, smart-mouthed teenagers trying to grow up too fast. In reality, Leah _did_ have about two years on her newfound friend, but neither girl really seemed to mind. They started hanging out outside of the two-hour window of opportunity on non-rainy Saturdays, and by the end of the summer, the two were inseparable.

Leah had been there for Dakota through all of her appointments and medications and emotional yo-yoing, and Dakota had been there for Leah when she got her first real boyfriend, when he left her, and when her father died unexpectedly. There was a period of time after her dad passed that Leah seemed to disappear, never answering her friend's calls or being at her own home when Dakota would drop by—but it passed soon enough. Leah reappeared, all new muscle and new hair, but the same attitude that Dakota had missed severely.

Although there was no explanation for the extended absence, she never tried to push Leah to explain herself. There was no need. The two were so close that they picked right up where they left off, as if nothing had happened. They were the best of friends, and each other's greatest comforts in times of need.

"So, who's getting married again?" Dakota asked, leading Leah through the front door of her home.

"The chief's annoying daughter and the youngest Cullenshit."

"Bella Swan? Is she pregnant or something?"

Leah snorted, as if the possibility was absurd. "Hell no."

"Well thank god," Dakota sighed, piling clothes into an old duffel bag. "I don't think I could handle hearing about _that_ bullshit all next semester."

The dark-haired girl plopped on the bed, stuffing the other's pillows into a ball and curling up around them. "They invited the entire damn town: the Rez, too. It's so obnoxious, I want to puke."

"Oh, yeah! Mom did mention an invitation in the mail, but I wasn't really paying attention. Guess it's no big loss, huh?"

Leah opened her mouth to speak, but the shrill ring of her cell phone overrode her voice. With a dramatic sigh and some violent flopping on Dakota's bed, she wiggled it from her pocket and put it to her ear. "What do you want?"

Dakota chuckled at the cheerful greeting, returning to the chore of gathering her things to stay over. She slipped her camera into the bag out of habit, making a mental note to talk to Leah about taking some shots.

"What do you mean, 'freaking out'?"

She zipped her bag and sat at the foot of the bed, watching Leah's expression change from annoyed to mortified in seconds. "On the way—I've got Kota with me, so don't be stupid."

"What's going on?"

Leah dodged the question. "Text your mom and let her know you're with me. We gotta go, now."

Her friend sounded so serious that Dakota immediately complied, texting quickly as she followed her back outside to the car and climbed in:

 **Going to Leah's, see you tomorrow! Love you!**

She punched send just as Leah whipped out of the driveway, causing Dakota's phone to fly out of her hand and into the recesses of the car.

"Oh, shit!" Dakota exclaimed, staying unbuckled and leaning into the back of the car, searching in the darkness as Leah took turns at full speed, as if they were in Tokyo Drift rather than Forks, Washington.

"Hold on!" Leah shouted, speeding down and old dirt road full of potholes. "We're almost there!"

"Almost where?!"

"The wedding!" She then slammed brakes, slinging Dakota violently forward. There was a moment of silence and, weakly, Dakota raised her phone in triumph.

"Are you alright?" Leah asked as she climbed out of the driver's seat, bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. It had been a long time since the older girl had been so jittery, and her friend noticed.

"Not dead yet, so I guess." Dakota followed Leah's lead, pulling herself from the car with a grunt.

"Wait in the car," she commanded. "I don't want you to get any more hurt than you already are."

Dakota met the taller girl's gaze fiercely. "No. I'm coming with you."

She searched the girl's face for any sign of fear she could play on, but sighed heavily when she found none. "Just stand back a ways and don't bring attention to yourself, then."

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

Leah trotted off towards a faint light in the forest, and Dakota followed closely behind. It was hard to maneuver in the dark, but she managed not to trip or fall. When the light came into clear view, nothing really seemed amiss with the reception. People were milling about beneath a ceiling of fairy lights to a soft, classical tune, laughing and smiling and nibbling on appetizers.

In the far back, a group of women stood alone, looking towards the woods nervously. Dakota noted how similar they looked to the Cullens: lean, feral and beautiful, and surrounded by an invisible bubble that no normal person would dare cross. She followed their gaze, seeing nothing but mossy tree trunks.

"Why'd we rush out here?" She whispered, still searching for something in the overgrowth.

"Just stand over here," Leah murmured, walking away from the reception and deeper into the woods. "I'll be right back."

Dakota nodded, waiting for her friend to get a few steps ahead of her before following as quietly as possible. Leah shot a stern look over her shoulder, but didn't try to stop the younger girl from following. It was, at that point, a waste of breath to try and steer her away.

As they walked, Dakota's eyes adjusted somewhat to the darkness and she began to make out silhouettes of men amongst the trees. It unnerved her that she hadn't noticed them before because as she neared, the more intimidating they became. There were four of them, all ridiculously tall and broad-shouldered faceless figures in the dark.

"He's gone. Seth tried to stop him, but he's run off." Immediately, Dakota recognized the voice; she had heard it over the phone at least a thousand times when she used to stay at the Clearwater home every weekend.

"Any idea where he's headed?" Leah asked, oblivious to her friend's discomfort.

"North. I need you to go after him—you're the fastest."

"Sam, I've—"

"Leah," his voice had an unnerving ring to it. "No arguments. If he refuses to come back, you and Seth can come home. It won't take you very long, and Dakota can wait at Emily's until you get back."

Dakota piped up, albeit quietly. "Uhm, Leah… am I supposed to understand any of this?"

Leah turned to her, flashing a smile so forced it hurt Dakota's heart. "Nope. Just take my car to Sam's and get one of them to ride with you to give you directions."

She handed her keys to the younger girl before stalking off into the darkness, confusing Dakota to the point that she decided to actually speak to Sam for the first time in years. "What the fuck is going on?"

She couldn't see the other guys very clearly, but the exhaustion on Sam Uley's face practically shined. It had only been about two years since she'd last seen him, but his eyes seemed much older. He sighed before speaking, the kind of sigh that could shake mountains. "I couldn't tell you."

"Where am I supposed to be going, then? I'll get out of your hair," she spoke more kindly this time, although still rudely by typical standards. "I just need my navigator. I know you moved, but not where."

Typically, Dakota would've just gone home and made some soup before marathoning DVDs well into the night. It was the first time in months Leah had been available for more than a few hours, however, and even though sitting at Sam's would be awkward, it would be worth spending quality time with her best friend. Well, that and she was painfully curious about who was missing and why they had to drive there in such a hurry and, most importantly, why in the hell Leah was taking orders from Sam Uley.

"Paul, will you ride with her? I need Quil and Embry on the clock." Sam addressed one of the figures in the shadows, putting strange emphasis on his words.

"Yeah, okay," the man grumbled back. "Just put me on babysitting duty."

Dakota was offended. "If it's too much trouble, I can just find it myself."

"No," Sam interjected, using his harsh voice again. "Paul will go with you."

The shadow she assumed was Paul stepped forward, the stockiest of the men standing in the darkness. His facial expression mirrored his cocky attitude as he glowered at Sam, not even bothering to glance in Dakota's direction.

"Well, then," she quipped. "Should we go?"

Paul's head, as if yanked by a leash, turned towards her in a flash. The inherently pissed off expression dropped from his face, morphing into an odd mixture of terrified and amazed. He blinked slowly at her, as if she were some sort of inhuman creature he would never get to see again in his lifetime.

She squirmed under his intense stare, ready to leave. "If you'd rather stay here, I'll find it eventually on my own."

He snapped back to reality, the dazed look on his face returning to the original scowl. "No, I'm going with you. Let's go."

Without stopping to see if she followed, Paul stomped off through the woods. Dakota looked to Sam for an explanation, but he had nothing for her but an unexpected smile. The other two just shrugged.

"Unbelievable…" Dakota grumbled. She turned and followed the path she _thought_ Paul took, cursing every other step of the way.

0o0

By the time she found her way back to Leah's car, Paul was already sitting on the hood waiting. Thankfully, he didn't look as pissed off as he had before, but Dakota was still annoyed with the whole situation.

"I'm driving," she declared, climbing into the driver's seat. "You just point where I need to turn and then this will all be over with."

"It's up to you." He shrugged, clicking his seatbelt and looking straight ahead.

Dakota pulled her door shut a tad harder than she meant to, and ended up startling herself. Next to her, Paul couldn't contain his snicker.

"Oh, shut up…" She started the car, remembering to jiggle the key as she turned so it would catch. The she threw it into reverse, backing all the way down the driveway before Paul spoke again.

"Go right."

"Like, your right as of right this second? Or right if you were facing the road head on?"

She saw him smirk out of the corner of her eye. "Maybe you should've let me drive."

Dakota turned and glared at him. Any friend of Sam's could kiss her entire ass. "Which fucking right, Paul?"

"Right if you were facing the road," he chuckled. "No need to be hostile."

She ignored him, instead choosing to hook her phone up to the radio and put on some music to avoid conversation. As she drove, the thundering of guitars and the familiar lyrics helped her calm down long enough to speak again.

"Are we close?" She turned the music down and glanced at him.

He looked shocked, eyebrows almost invisible under a mop of shaggy hair. "You listen to _that?"_ He completely dodged her question.

"Yes, among other things—are we close?"

"Sam and Emily live on the other side of the Rez, near Third Beach," he rushed through his words like one would rush through a phone call with their mother. "What bands do you like?"

Dakota tried not to sigh aloud, navigating the winding roads through the reservation. She had an idea of how to get there, but if Paul didn't focus on where they were headed, they would end up driving around in circles forever.

"I'll make you a list," she barked, turning onto a side road that she remembered led to Third Beach. "But first we've gotta get to Sam's."

"Oh right, Sam's—turn left here, and follow the dirt road all the way back. It's the little red one."

Within a minute, they pulled up to the quaint little home. There was only one other car in the driveway, so she assumed they had beat everyone else there. She sat and stared at the home, wondering if Leah would've been inside if things had been different. It made her upset, seeing what could've been for her best friend.

Paul must've picked up on her dropped mood, because he reached over and squeezed her shoulder gently. Dakota tensed, but didn't say anything. He didn't speak, either, so her silence only seemed fitting.

"Do we just... walk in?" She finally broke the silence, still staring at the front door.

"Normally, yeah."

"How long do you think Leah will take?"

He shrugged. "Fuck if I know."

0o0

Two and a half hours. That was how long Leah took to get to Sam's, much to Dakota's dismay. For the first hour, she sat in the car, playing music from her phone and chain smoking. Paul had scrunched up his nose at the sight of her cigarettes, but she couldn't care less. He didn't have to sit with her in the car, but he chose to anyway. It wasn't her problem what he liked and didn't like. The two of them sat in smoky silence like that for a while, until Paul asked her for her name.

"Dakota," she answered tersely, staring at the cigarette between her fingers and willing her nausea away.

"I mean, your full name."

She gave him a funny look. "What does it matter?"

He had a deep gleam in his eyes as he spoke. "I need to know."

"What you _need_ is to stop being so damn nosy and leave me in peace," she snipped.

"Not happening," he retorted, arms folded across his chest. "So you might as well tell me."

"You first," she challenged, not one to share with strangers without getting something in return. It wasn't a great quality, true, but it hadn't failed her yet.

"Paul Lahote. Now what's yours?"

She sighed heavily. Telling him her name wasn't really a huge deal either way, but he was obviously going to push the issue. "Dakota Moreno. Want to know my date of birth and blood type, too?"

"Well, I mean, if you're offering." He grinned at her, obviously pleased with himself.

"It was a rhetorical question, so no."

"I can see why you're friends with Leah," he noted.

"If you're gonna say something shitty about her, I suggest you stop right there."

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "Just observing. How did you two meet, anyway? I've never heard anything about you."

That hurt her feelings a bit, but she refused to take his bait. "We met at the Angry Feminist Bitch Convention in Seattle, and decided to be angry feminist bitch best friends."

To her surprise, Paul actually laughed. It was a warm, hearty laugh—and as much as she didn't want to think so, it was cute in its own right. She kept quiet, putting her cigarette out in the car ashtray and turning the music off on her phone. All she wanted to do was spend time with her best friend, and there she was, trapped in the driveway of a house belonging to a man she hated, one of his idiotic counterparts in the passenger seat beside her.

"Do you wanna go inside? I'm sure Emily would love to meet you."

"I've met Emily Young," she snapped. "And I think I'd rather sit in the car."

Paul was taken aback by the animosity in her voice. "Well, she's about to come outside, so either way you're going in."

As if on command, the front door swung open and Emily practically _flounced_ outside. Leah might've been able to forgive her cousin, but the sight of her made Dakota even more sick to her stomach than she already was. When Leah had first told her what happened, it had taken every ounce of her self-control to keep from driving to the Makah reservation and telling Emily Young what a traitorous piece of shit she was.

"Dakota!" Emily called from the front porch, waving and smiling. "Come inside!"

The worst part about hating Emily Young was, undoubtedly, how genuinely sweet the woman was. "Fuck my life," Dakota groaned, returning the wave halfheartedly and turning to Paul. " I don't want to do this."

He just laughed again, getting out of the car and walking around the hood to open Dakota's door for her. "C'mon, let's go. It won't be that bad, I promise. Plus, I bet there's food."

She climbed out of the car, pausing long enough to shoot Leah a text:

 **Come the hell on, SOS. She's TALKING to me!**

With a heavy sigh, she followed Paul to the porch. When Emily flung her arms around Dakota, she tried not to seem too standoffish and patted the woman's back politely.

"Come in, come in! I had no idea I'd be seeing you tonight, or I would've tidied up, so forgive the mess!"

Just as Dakota expected, the little home was absolutely spotless. The smell of something cooking wafted in from the kitchen, and on the short tour Emily gave her, she noticed there were three places set at the table. _Didn't know I was coming, my ass,_ she thought bitterly. Leave it to Emily to be Martha Stewart Jr. in training, as if she couldn't get any more perfect.

"Are you hungry? I've got some burgers cooking if you'd like to eat with us!" Emily was trying so very hard, Dakota almost felt guilty for her dislike of the woman.

"Yeah, sure," she resigned, much to Emily and Paul's delight. "That sounds great."

"If you two want to just hang out in the living room while I finish up, I'll let you know when it's ready." Although Dakota knew better, she could've sworn she thought she saw Emily wink at Paul when she said it.

Reluctantly, she followed Paul into the living room, waiting for him to settle in on the couch before she perched herself at the opposite end. She didn't know what exactly was going on, but she didn't want to get mixed up in it.

They didn't speak the entire time Emily finished cooking, but Dakota could feel his eyes on her. She wanted to say something, _anything,_ but felt that she'd be opening the door to a conversation she didn't want to have.

Thankfully, Emily called them from the kitchen with the news of food, and Paul was gone in a flash. Dakota followed slowly, genuinely considering stealing Leah's car and going to the Clearwater home alone. The thought of answering Sue's infinite questions was more appealing than having dinner at Sam Uley's house.

Still, she sat down at the table, absolutely horrified when Emily placed a plate of at least 40 burgers in front of her. Paul, however, wasn't at all surprised by the mountain of food, and piled six on his own place. Tentatively, Dakota grabbed a single burger and sat it in front of her.

"The boys eat a lot," Emily explained, taking one for herself. "So I always make a lot of food in case they drop by. I practically never have leftovers!"

Dakota nodded politely, watching Paul scarf down his food out of the corner of her yee. It was almost unnerving, the ferocity with which he ate. It was as if those burgers were his last meal, or his first in weeks—either situation applied.

"Paul," Emily chided, noting the mortified expression on Dakota's face. "We have a guest, you know."

He looked up from his place with such a look of confusion that Dakota couldn't stop herself from laughing aloud. Despite having a mouthful of food, he managed to grin back, his whole face alight.

"It's fine," she said to Emily, slowly eating her own burger. "I'm not shocked, after speaking with him."

"It's still disgusting," Emily said with a smile in her voice, obviously pleased the younger girl was speaking of her own volition. "But you get used to it."

Her retail voice came out again in the form of a chuckle, but that time Dakota knew how fake it was. The second Leah showed up, she wanted to get in the car and leave. She didn't like the way everything was making her feel there—angry, happy, vulnerable—and Emily's overbearing kindness had gotten old quickly.

"Aren't you gonna eat more than that?" Paul asked after she sat down her half-eaten burger, reaching for seconds himself.

She shook her head. "Not very hungry, really."

"Are you still on that medicine?" Emily inquired, a worried look on her scarred face. Dakota felt herself pale as she remembered that Emily was the one who brought Leah to visit her when she first got bad.

"A different one, but it's got pretty much the same side effects," she explained in a rushed murmur. "Loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping being the most notable."

"Medication for what?" Paul interjected, looking anxiously between the two of them.

"I have a third nipple—a genetic mutation," Dakota deadpanned. "I'm trying to kill the cells that compose it and the meds are harsh."

He glared at her. "Very funny. What's wrong?"

"I told you, I have a third nipple."

Before he had a chance to say something in return, the front door swung open and Sam charged in, flanked by Seth, the other two guys from the wedding, and lastly, Leah. Dakota practically sighed in relief at the sight of her best friend.

Almost instantaneously, the guys flocked to the food, making it very easy for Dakota to slip away from Paul and get to Leah.

"Can we leave?" She whispered, giving a pointed look in Paul's direction.

"Was he shitty to you?" Leah asked angrily, glaring at the massive man at the table. "I'll take him out."

"Not shitty—just weird. Like giving me googly eyes and asking me lots of questions, weird."

Leah paused and gave her friend a look that was eerily similar to the one Paul had given her when she first met him. "Like this?"

Dakota nodded, and Leah's face twisted in a mixture of fury and disgust. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me."

0o0

The entire ride back to the Clearwater home, Leah fumed silently. About what, Dakota couldn't say, but it was obvious the dark-haired girl was living about something. To make the silence less awkward, Seth chattered about the wedding from the back seat.

"…And the food—oh my _god,_ the food. It was so good. There was this—"

"Seth! Shut the fuck up!" Leah shouted, cutting her brother off and whipping into the driveway of their home. He muttered something that sounded like an apology before slipping out of the car and walking ahead inside.

"Why are you so on edge?" Dakota blurted, unable to control herself. "He was just trying to ease the tension. You didn't have to yell at him."

Leah stared straight ahead, her body shaking slightly. "You don't get it, Kota. Everything I've ever cared about, it takes. I hate it. I can't escape it, either. It's everywhere I turn. It's not fair—I can't have _anything_ to myself without it coming along and messing it up."

Dakota let her ramble on, not bothering to ask what she was talking about .Ever since her dad died, Leah was prone to outbursts of anger and other fiery emotions, often going on and on about seemingly nothing, never elaborating any farther than "it".

"You've got me, you grump," she joked, taking her best friend's hand. "And you couldn't run me off with a shitty mop."

At her kind teasing words, Leah's resolve cracked and she began sobbing. Dakota climbed out of the car and walked around, pulling Leah from her seat and taking her into a hug. "Everything's gonna be alright, and I'm not going anywhere."

Leah cried harder, her face buried in Dakota's shoulder. She said something between gasps, but it was muffled by the younger girl's shirt.

"What'd you say?"

Leah took a deep breath. "Don't let Paul hurt you," she demanded, still gasping. "Don't let him hurt you, please. I'll kill him, I swear I'll fucking kill him…"

"Shh," Dakota soothed. "Don't you worry about me. I'll be alright, Leah-Bean."

Somewhere in the distance, she heard a wolf howl, desperate and longing. Without another word, she rushed Leah inside.


	2. Changing Opinions

The next morning, Paul paced the living room at Sam's house absolutely bristling. Typically, Sam would've told him to take his temper outside, but for once his anger was justified. It centered on his imprint.

 _God,_ Paul thought, _my_ imprint. _What the hell is going on with me?_ When she left with Leah he'd followed them on instinct because he was afraid to be away from her. Anything could happen while they were apart, and the thought terrified him more than he was capable of explaining. She could forget to take her medicine (for whatever reason she took it) and die, or she could slip and fall down the stairs and break every bone in her body, or…

"Paul," Sam placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Breathe. You need to be calm when Leah gets here so I can talk to her without there being a fight." Then he walked outside, leaving Paul to his anger alone.

Hearing Leah's name made Paul's blood boil stronger. He didn't know who the hell she thought she was, or what the hell she thought she was doing, but telling his imprint that he would hurt her was enough to make him want to rip her to pieces.

When his hands started to shake, he clamped his eyes shut and tried to imagine Dakota was in front of him. The first thing that came to mind were her eyes: the darkest shade of brown he'd ever seen, practically black, and almost always seemingly somewhere else. Then he saw her smile, although that was a little harder to conjure due to its scarcity. Slowly, her light smattering of freckles and messy, blonde hair came together with the rest of the image and it was almost as if she were right in front of him. When he stopped shaking, he opened his eyes.

"You alright?"

Paul couldn't stop the goofy smile that spread across his face at the sound of her voice. "Dakota."

She closed the front door behind her, cradling a thermos of what smelled like coffee to her chest. "Yes, thank you—I thought I'd lost all hold on reality, but it seems I'm capable of remembering my own name. It's a miracle."

He ignored her sarcasm, smiling wider as he took her in. Obviously just woken up, she was in her mismatched pajamas and her hair stuck out in all directions. "What're you doing here?"

Dakota plopped down on the couch and pulled the throw blanket from the back of it into her lap. "Leah failed to mention she works for Sam and is constantly on call, so when she woke me up, I was given the choice of waiting for her to finish up her work here, or going home. So I'm commandeering Sam's couch until she's free."

"You could take my bed!" He blurted, gesturing down the hall. "I actually stay here a lot, so they sorta gave me a room. It's technically a guest room though, and the bed is a lot more comfortable than the couch. Trust me."

She sipped her coffee. "I think I'll be fine right here."

He tried, and failed, to hide his disappointment. "Oh. Okay. Is there anything I can get you?"

Dakota gestured to her relaxed position on the sofa. "Some peace and quiet would be fan-fucking-tastic."

Although endearing in a way, her attitude was beginning to wear on Paul. "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I was planning on watching some TV, so you'll have to share."

She blinked at him for almost a full 30 seconds before sitting up with a huff, gesturing to the other end of the couch and muttering under her breath.

"What was that?" He asked with a smirk, settling down right on the middle cushion just to annoy her.

It worked. "I _said,_ you're an ass and I can see why Leah doesn't like you."

Paul clutched his chest dramatically. "Oh, no, your words—I've never felt a hurt so deep!"

Despite her best efforts not to, she chuckled at his antics. It was only the second time he had seen a smile grace her face, and his heart practically beat out of his chest at the sight. Then and there, he promised himself to make her smile every chance he got.

"So, what kind of macho-man bullshit am I gonna have to suffer through?" Dakota asked, stifling a yawn. Paul just shrugged, flipping through the channels and trying to take note of what seemed to interest her.

Getting no signs from her, he decided to be outright. "Anything in particular you want to see?"

She mused for a moment. "Try Animal Planet—I think they play Steve Irwin reruns early in the morning sometimes."

Sure enough, she was right. They sat in silence through a full episode, Dakota sipping her coffee and trying to stay awake while Paul tried his best to watch the show and not how her face lit up at every little lizard and bug on the screen.

After a while, however, her quiet little gasps of excitement went silent. He risked looking directly at her, only to realize she had fallen asleep. Her head was craned back at an awkward angle and her mouth dangled open, much to his amusement. Although she acted so snarky and tough when she was awake, she was about as intimidating as a lapdog when she slept.

"Kota," he whispered, nudging her shoulder with his own. "The show's back on."

She mumbled incoherently, pulling the throw tighter around her body.

"One more time? I couldn't hear you," he asked, trying not to laugh.

"Kiss my ass," she gurgled. "I wanna sleep."

"But you can't sleep—Leah's gonna be back soon."

Suddently, Dakota's eyes snapped open. "Fuck, Leah. I left my camera. Fuck."

"What?"

She leapt up, tossing the blanket back onto the couch and running out the front door before Paul could say another word. More out of instinct than choice, he followed her.

When he stepped outside, she was digging through a bag in the passenger seat of Leah's hatchback frantically. As he came down the steps, he could hear her cussing up a storm as she searched.

"Everything okay?"

Dakota looked up at him with wild eyes. "I need my camera, and Leah didn't leave the keys."

"She should be back soon," he tried to calm her, as he was a little bit worried about her sudden change in demeanor.

"No, you don't understand. I need it, and before sunrise."

"Why do you—"

"Can I get you to give me a ride to go get it? I'll give you gas money."

"You don't have to pay m—"

"Which car is it?" She interrupted, lighting a cigarette with shaky hands. Paul tried not to gag at the smell.

"Green pickup around back. C'mon."

0o0

Dakota hated asking for favors. It made her angrier than she was capable of explaining. Asking for three favors, however? She was absolutely desperate.

Favor one consisted of a ride to the Clearwater home.

Favor two was a boost into Leah's, thankfully, unlocked bedroom window.

Favor three was, however, the strangest Paul had been asked in a long time.

"So what button do I push?" Paul called out over the wind. Third Beach was the only access to the water that had a clear view of the sun rising over the trees. On any other day, Dakota would've talked Leah into being in the shot, but on that day, she was stuck with Paul Lahote, sausage fingers and all.

"You don't press anything," she tried to explain. "We need to get in the water first."

"You're joking, right?"

Dakota sighed in exasperation. "You said you'd help!"

"Why should I help you when you're so mean to me?" Paul was holding the camera up, looking at her through the viewfinder, but she could tell he was smiling.

"It's really important, that's why!" She yanked her t-shirt over her head, tossing it to the sand.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" He exclaimed, lowering the camera, a bewildered look on his face.

"Getting in the water! C'mon!" With that, she shimmied off her pajama bottoms and ran into the surf before she could think twice. She dove straight under, forcing her body to adjust to the chilly, almost-autumn temperature of the water. She stayed submerged for a moment, trying to pretend that she hadn't just stripped to her underwear in front of someone who wasn't her doctor or Leah for the first time in her life.

 _Living,_ that's what Dr. Gwen would say. _Making memories is what makes life worth living._ She had planned on capturing that particular memory with Leah, but it seemed Paul would have to suffice. As much as she hated to admit it, though, she was beginning to enjoy his company—even if he was really just a verbal punching bag. Just so long as he didn't try to get between her and her best friend, Dakota figured she wasn't doing anything wrong by Leah.

When she resurfaced, Paul was wading through the surf towards her. "Care to explain why we're practically naked in the ocean at 7:00am?"

"Aesthetic."

" _What?_ "

She laughed, gesturing over her shoulder for him to follow her a little deeper. Although he didn't say anything, she knew he was right behind her. When she worked up the nerve to turn completely around and face him, she was pleasantly surprised he kept his eyes trained on hers.

"Hand me the camera," she said. "And go stand over there."

"But your hands are wet!"

"It's waterproof," she snorted, taking the camera and trying to ignore how warm his fingertips were. "Now go!"

Paul shot her a dirty look as he trudged through the water to where she'd pointed. "I thought I was taking a picture of you!"

"No creepy half-nudes for you today, sir!"

"Oh, shut up. What am I supposed to even _do?_ "

Dakota lifted the camera to her face, quickly adjusting and focusing the lens before she spoke. "Whatever feels right! It's really important to be honest, or else the whole picture is ruined."

"What the hell does that mean?" He looked so confused, staring at her with an expression that mimicked that of a toddler on the verge of a meltdown. She clicked the shutter.

"I need a couple more! The sun's not quite up!"

She saw his shoulders rise and fall with a heavy sigh, his eyes closed. _Click._ As the sunlight began to trickle through the tops of the evergreens, she steadied herself to take one last shot. Almost as if in slow motion, Paul opened his eyes and looked at her with such a deep longing, she almost couldn't take the picture. Almost.

"G-Got it!" She managed, unable to keep her voice steady. He began to wade back towards her, his smirk back in its rightful place.

"Can I see them?" He was much closer than she'd expected him to come, the water between them incredibly warm in comparison to the rest of the waves.

"Did you pee?" She joked, more for her own benefit than his. He shot her a look, towering over her head.

"No, I didn't piss in my own underwear. Can I see the pictures?"

"Only if you promise not to delete them. I only got three."

Paul gingerly took the camera from her hands. "Promise. Now help me work this complicated damn thing."

He hunched over close to her height as she showed him which buttons would take him through the recent photos. She looked along as he scrolled through, watching his face instead as he lingered on the last photo. Once again, the longing returned to his eyes, and she willed herself to turn her attention to the whitecaps breaking around them.

"I really need to shave," he finally said, handing her the camera. "I look like a mass murderer."

"I think it adds to it, though," Dakota said as she admired the photo herself. "I don't know what you were thinking about, but the lighting and the waves breaking and the stubble makes it… relatable, I guess."

"What're you talking about?" He asked, a smile in his voice.

She turned the camera off, careful not to look at him. "You looked like you haven't slept in days, like the world's fallen down around your shoulders. You looked almost… _scared,_ like you've had a lot more to worry about than your 5 o'clock shadow."

Paul was quiet for a moment, and she immediately regretted opening up like that. Dr. Gwen had said taking photos of others would be a good way to safely address her own problems. But Dakota had never shared her thoughts with anyone but Leah and her mother. Her mouth had opened before her brain could stop it, however, and there she stood, half naked in the ocean at 7:15am, feeling more vulnerable than she had to begin with. She couldn't explain what made her trust Paul, the infuriating mirror-image of Sam Uley, so quickly, but she wished she hadn't.

"I think we all get that way sometimes," he finally murmured. "Scared of the world, I mean."

She could've hugged him, she was so relieved to hear him agree. Instead, she opted for a quiet sigh, grateful that he hadn't made fun of her about her words. It made her like him a little more, see him in a slightly different light. Maybe he was just a watered down version of Sam, rather than an unfiltered reflection.

"You wanna head back in and dry off?" Paul asked, gesturing to the shoreline.

"Sounds good to me," Dakota said. "I'm absolutely freezing."

Paul chuckled, walking ahead towards the sand and waiting until he was at a safe distance before shouting over his shoulder, "I wasn't gonna say anything, but you're not lying!"

She glanced down instinctively, realizing she could've probably cut diamonds with her nipples at that point.

"Don't look at my frozen nipples, you douche!" She screeched, wrapping her arms across her small chest as she charged after him.

He roared with laughter, easily gliding through the waves as she stumbled behind him, shouting obscenities. By the time she caught up with him on the beach, he had tears streaming from the corners of his light brown eyes and he was doubled over from laughing so hard.

"Asshole," Dakota fought to keep from laughing herself. "Remind me not to drag you on any more adventures."

To Paul's credit, he tried to stop laughing. He didn't succeed, but he tried. "C'mon," he gasped. "Don't be like that!"

"I will 'be' any way I very damn well please." She declared, ringing her hair out with her free hand. Her other arm was still covering her chest, clutching her camera as well. She tried to pretend her face wasn't burning as his chuckles died out.

"Oh, come here, you big baby," Paul walked towards her with his arms open. "I didn't mean to piss you off."

"Nuh uh! No touchy! Aren't you scared I might stab you with my _ice pick nipples?!_ "

"What's all this talk about nipples I hear?" Emily came walking up to them, towels in hand. Politely, she averted her eyes from Dakota after tossing her one, but she didn't over the same courtesy to Paul.

"You really need to shave," she chided, sounding more like his mom than his friend's girlfriend. "You look a little… _rough._ "

Paul gave Dakota a knowing smile before turning back to her. "I've got a lot more to worry about than my 5 o'clock shadow, Em."

Emily looked between the two of them with a sly smile on her face that made Dakota flush an even deeper shade of crimson, if at all possible. Wrapping the towel tighter around her body, she scrambled to grab her clothes from the sand. She probably should've thought out her plan a little better, but as they say, it was a day late and a dollar short.

"You two should head back soon," Emily said. "Leah and Sam are back from the job site, and I don't know how long my muffins will last when the others show up."

"We're gonna be right behind you, so try to fight them off so Kota can get one."

She nodded and smiled, giving Dakota a little wave before heading back to her own truck and pulling out of the parking lot.

"How'd she know where we were?" Paul asked, towel drying his hair.

Dakota fidgeted where she stood, burying her feet in the sand. "I told Leah what I was planning to do last night, so she probably figured it out. I was gonna take the photos of her, but she didn't get back in time."

There was a drop in her voice that Paul immediately picked up on. "You okay, Kota?"

"Yeah," she said, looking back out towards the water. "I'm fine."

0o0

After the morning at the beach, Dakota didn't hear from Leah or Paul for almost three weeks. Although she didn't put much thought into not hearing from Paul—because really, how was he supposed to get up with her?—not getting word from her best friend for that long was weird. Even though they both had busy schedules, they had always managed to find some kind of time to spend together, even if it was only a quick phone call.

When Dakota got home from her last first week of high school, she decided to talk to her mom about it. After her dad filed for divorce, her mom had done everything in her power to make things a little easier on her, ears always open to Dakota's problems. The woman worked two jobs and made sure anything her daughter ever needed was available: everything from school clothes to Dr. Gwen was covered, and even then she managed to spend time with her.

The first thing Dakota saw when she got home, however, was the sight of her mother crying her eyes out. Her own problems became insignificant and she rushed to her side.

"Mom, what's wrong?" She urged, looking around for anything that might've triggered the onslaught of tears. Some mail sat off to the side, unopened—so that wasn't it. Beside the mail sat the telephone, which made her stomach drop. "Did somebody call?"

Her mother forced a smile through her tears, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her shirt. "It's not bad news, honey. I'm just emotional."

"But why?"

"My baby's growing up!" She wailed, throwing her arms around her daughter. "Soon you'll be going off to college and then what am I gonna do?"

Dakota smiled as she squeezed her shoulders, glad to know that her outburst was nothing more than pre-Empty Nest Syndrome. "I'm not even sure what I wanna do after high school, Mom. For all you know, I'll be here until I'm 30."

Her mother pulled away, holding her at arm's length with a serious look on her face. "Stay as long as you want to, Kotabear. I don't care if you never leave home, as long as you're happy."

"Could you imagine me here forever? How would I got to my room if I was too old to climb the stairs?" Dakota joked, successfully pulling a laugh from her mom.

"We'll figure it out," she sniffled, the flow of tears finally subsiding. "But first, I wanna know what's up with you! Tell me about your first week!"

At the mention of her own weird little life, Dakota sighed. She sat on the counter and lit a cigarette, not at all surprised when her mother did the same. Of course, she wasn't a fan of her daughter smoking, but who was she to preach about it when she smoked a pack a day herself?

It took a while, but Dakota managed to walk her mother through all of what had happened the last time she'd seen Leah, how she met Paul, and the beach fiasco (conveniently omitting the part about stripping to her underwear in front of a practical stranger). Her mom listened and nodded thoughtfully for a while before she spoke.

"Do you think maybe Leah's worried you'll replace her?"

"I don't see why," Dakota said, staring out the kitchen window. "If she hadn't ditched me in the first place, I would've gone with her."

"Well, I don't want this to sound harsh, but she's probably used to being your only friend. It's gotta feel like she's got competition for your attention or something, y'know kiddo?"

"But I haven't talked to the guy since then, so I don't get it. I've tried calling her almost every other day and she's MIA."

"I think you're overthinking it, Kota, but I know you can't just turn it off. How about we try to take your mind off of things?"

"What do you mean?"

"We could go get dinner at Rosie's like we used to! We haven't gone in so long, and I miss my dates with my daughter."

Her mom knew exactly how to pull on her heartstrings, and on the drive to the little dive, Dakota almost felt like a kid again. They played old beach music on the radio inside and the two of them ordered their favorite meals, Dakota still opting for the child's size because of her puny appetite. Everything was going great, and the two were talking and laughing together more than they had in a long time.

Dakota had almost forgotten why they'd come out when her mother went to the bathroom. She pulled her camera from her bag and began to adjust the view carefully as she waited. She aimed the viewfinder at the entrance, twisting and turning the lens until everything came into focus. Just as she went to lower the camera, however, the door swung open and one of the last people she expected to see waltzed in: Paul.

His head whipped in her direction and his face erupted into a grin. Without really meaning to, she snapped a picture, and her mouth smiled back before her brain had a chance to stop it.

"Hey!" He called out, walking up to her. "How're the nips?"

Of all the times her mother could've chosen to walk out of the bathroom, she chose then. "Barely legal; why do you ask?"

As if struck by lightning, Paul froze, his mouth opening and closing in surprise. Dakota came to his rescue with as vague of an explanation as she could muster. "Mom, this is Paul—the poor guy I dragged into the _freezing_ ocean for that shot."

Instantly, her mom's defensive demeanor dropped and she was herself again. "Oh, hi then! I'm Kate, Dakota's mom."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Kate." Paul stuck his hand out to shake hers, but she pulled him into a hug instead.

"Don't call me "miss", it makes me feel old." She insisted, squeezing his broad shoulders. He shot Dakota a look that practically screamed for help, but she just smirked. She liked the way her mom was able to make him seem so helpless, despite the fact that she was only around 5'2". It was ironic.

"So, what're you doing here, Paul? Not eating alone, I hope." Her mom was practically giddy—Dakota didn't exactly have a history of introducing lots of friends, much less _male_ friends. She was milking it for all it was worth.

Paul shrugged sheepishly, one hand coming up to scratch the back of his neck. "Well, actually, yeah…"

Dakota's mom shot her a mischievous grin that made her stomach drop. "Well I have to get home soon to get ready for the night shift, anyway! If you wouldn't mind carting my daughter home, I'm sure she'd love to stay and keep you company!"

At that, Paul's face visibly lit up. "Yeah, sure! It's not a problem!"

She gaped at her mother, but only got another smirk in return. "You two have fun! I'll go ahead and pay our bill, okay Kota? See you at home!"

With that, she disappeared to the counter, leaving her daughter stranded with someone she had just met. Paul slipped into the booth across from her, smiling goofily. "I like your mom."

"I'm not so sure how I feel about her right now," Dakota said, staring as her mom got into her car and drove off. "But she's a good mom, I guess."

"C'mon, she just gave us the evening alone together and she just met me. She's pretty cool." Paul opened the menu, peeking at her over the top of it when he thought she wasn't looking.

"Yeah, but what if you were a serial killer? She would've just stranded her only child with a murderer."

He lowered the menu and looked at her with that strange, intense face again. "I would never hurt you, Kota."

" _I_ might know that, but she doesn't."

"As long as you know, that's all that matters. Your feelings come first." He almost sounded as if he were alluding to something, but exactly what, she couldn't tell.

"So, what are you doing out here anyway?" She changed the subject, her general confusion making the situation incredibly uncomfortable.

Paul shrugged. "Wanted something a little different, I guess. I've been busting my ass all week and figured a trip to Rosie's was well-deserved."

"I take it you work for Sam, too?" Although she'd never admit it, Dakota was beginning to become interested in Paul—what he liked, what he didn't like, how he grew up, and stuff like that. He hadn't been incredibly forward about much, which made it a little harder on her. Then again, however, she hadn't exactly spilled her life story herself.

"Yeah."

"What do you guys do?"

Paul's answer was short, again. "Construction."

"Well, that's a little weird…"

Like she had hoped, he took her bait. "What's weird?"

"The crazy hours Leah works. I thought construction was strictly a daytime thing, but I guess I've got a lot to learn, huh?"

Paul, sensing their conversation was about to shift to his least favorite Clearwater, turned her own question back on her. "And you? What do you do?"

Dakota sighed. "When I'm not suffering through eight hours a day at Forks High? I'm either working at the little convenience store on Johnson, or hiding in bed and blackening my lungs."

"Why do you smoke, anyway?"

Dakota almost laughed at the question, it was so hard to answer. "I really couldn't tell you. I started, and can't stop. It's as simple and as complicated as that."

Paul looked at her with genuine concern; she didn't know how to react. "You should try to quit, Kota. It'll kill you, you know."

All the talk about cigarettes made her want one, so she pulled one out of her pack, grateful that Rosie's was so behind the times that they still allowed smoking inside. "We all die anyway, so what's the use in worrying about the when and how of it all?"

He shook his head at her, but just as he was about to speak, a pretty and long-legged waitress came quite literally sauntering up to their table, practically hitting Dakota in the face with her chest as she leaned over the Formica. "Paul Lahote! Funny seeing you in these parts! What can I get for you, sweetheart?"

It would've taken a complete idiot to miss what was going on, or rather, what had occurred between the two of them at one point. Still, if an onlooker has just been tuning in, the look the server was giving Dakota would've cleared up everything.

"Uhm…" Paul stammered, obviously uncomfortable. "I think I'll just go with the usual. You want anything, Kota?"

"Might I suggest the cheeseburger?" The waitress said sweetly, eyeing Dakota's little frame with contempt. "It's _very_ good."

Unable to back down from a challenge, even _if_ the waitress had the wrong idea, Dakota spoke just as sweetly. "I think I'm good for now, but when you get a chance, would you bring us some of your red velvet cake? I've been trying to get my boyfriend to try it for _forever_ now."

At the 'b' word, the girl's smile faltered just as a massive one erupted on Paul's face. It was all she could do not to laugh as the waitress nodded curtly and stomped off towards the kitchen. She did allow herself a little snicker once the girl was out of earshot, though.

"Did you say 'boyfriend'?" Paul asked incredulously, still grinning.

Dakota laughed as she lit her cigarette. "Tell me it wasn't funny, and I'll correct myself when she comes back. Otherwise, just enjoy it."

Paul reached across the table and took her free hand, sending a jolt through her senses. "Well, now we've really gotta play it off or else she'll see right through it."

She looked at their hands, his obviously clasped tighter than hers. "You're gonna run this horse into the ground, aren't you?"

"You did it to yourself." Paul was smirking at her in such a charming way, she almost considered playing along just to know what it felt like to be on the arm of someone like him. _Almost._

"I think feeding you some cake in front of her will suffice," she said, taking her hand back. "I might even let you put an arm around me as we walk out. No hand-holding, though."

Paul shrugged, but Dakota could've sworn she saw a glint of hurt in his eyes. "She's difficult, so don't be shocked if she calls you on your bluff when she comes back."

"Well, the only thing I really need to know to keep up the charade is how long ago you slept with her."

His face fell instantly, and a glow of red flushed beneath his tan skin. "What're you talking about?"

She snorted with laughter. "Oh my god, don't make it weird. She would _not_ have waved her tits around like that if you hadn't already seen them—and liked them, might I add. So how long ago was it?"

Paul stammered. "I-I really have no idea what you're talking about."

His denial made her laugh even harder. "Don't be a baby! Just tell me!"

He muttered something, but she didn't catch it.

"Come again?"

"A little over a month ago, I think."

That was the final straw for Dakota, and she began to roar with laughter. Something about the way he said it—like how a child would apologize for stealing another kid's toy—that had her in absolute stitches. She was still cackling when the waitress brought out Paul's food, plopping the plate before him with obvious distain.

As he ate, he glared at her. She relit her cigarette, as it had gone out during her laughing fit, and smirked at him. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"You could stop laughing at my shitty life choices." He grumbled. Surprised, Dakota gestured to where the waitress stood, glowering at them blatantly.

"IF anything, you oughta be proud of that. T and A for days, my man!" She reached out to high five him. He shook his head at her.

"I'm not proud of who I used to be." Paul admitted, glancing at the server.

"Who you were a month ago?"

He shook his head again. "Who I was before I… never mind, I can't explain it."

Dakota, who hated being pushed when she didn't feel like talking, let it drop. "We've all got issues, Paul. Don't beat yourself up about it too hard."

He sighed heavily, running his hand through his now-shorter hair. "I guess. I just, I don't know."

This time, it was Dakota that reached out and took his hand. She tried to ignore the sparks rushing between their fingers as she spoke. "Paul, seriously. Don't cling onto it—you make mistakes and you live with them. It's the human condition. You live and you learn from it."

He stared at their hands on the table, chewing lightly on his bottom lip. Once again, she found herself thinking about how handsome he was, but she quickly brushed the thought away. She decided she liked him, at least enough to consider him her friend, but the memory of Leah sobbing for hours on end over a man who Paul considered his friend kept playing over and over in her mind. She didn't want to end up like that—she was already unstable enough on her own.

"Thanks, Kota." He finally managed a smile, one convincing enough for her to give his hand a final squeeze before pulling hers back.

"It doesn't look like we're getting that cake," Dakota noted, gesturing to their waitress violently flirting with a lone man at the counter. She'd desperately wanted to change the subject. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Paul fished his wallet from his back pocket, slapping $15 on the table and standing up. "Only if I can put my arm around you like you said I could."

She rolled her eyes. "I knew you were gonna milk it."

"C'mon, babe," Paul spoke a tad too loudly, shooting her an inconspicuous wink and pulling her to his side. "Let's get out of here. The service sucks."

Dakota could hardly contain her laughter as the two of them left the little diner, surprised by how nice it really felt to be at Paul Lahote's side.


	3. Breaking Down

The drive back to Dakota's house was much too short for his liking, so he idled in her driveway for a few minutes trying to figure out what to say to make her want him to stay. Paul found himself drumming his fingertips on the steering wheel nervously, his sudden inability to say _anything_ making his heart beat fiercely.

Thankfully, Dakota wasn't paying much attention. She was staring at the camera in her lap, fiddling with the lens purposefully. He watched as her eyebrows knitted together in frustration, nostrils flaring ever so slightly. As he observed, he couldn't help but think of how different she was from the imaginary imprint his mind had built over time.

Even though the idea of looking at a stranger and suddenly realizing he would die for her hadn't been exactly appealing, he would sometimes catch his mind wandering to his unknown "soulmate" at the most inconvenient times. He would be at Sam's house, just watching some TV, when suddenly his thoughts would shoot straight to a tall, dark-haired faceless female who could cook a mean steak.

Of course, Paul would push it all to the back of his mind where the pack couldn't find it during shifts, but staring at the tiny girl beside him made him wonder why he'd ever dreaded imprinting in the first place. He knew very well the effect he had on women because, hell, he'd used it to his advantage plenty of times. With his imprint seemingly unaffected by even his most practiced of moves, however, he found himself at a loss. It was frustrating, but mostly it was _exciting_ ; he felt like he was starting all over again, and there was no one he'd rather have to learn than Dakota.

That was why her observation about his affiliation with their waitress at Rosie's had upset him so. Paul might not have been able to change his past, but god how he wanted to. Her light, joking tone about his meaningless one-night stand had made his stomach flop. One of his many theoretical white elephants had seemingly been escorted out of the room, but he worried Dakota would see him as nothing more than the worst version of himself possible, and write him off completely.

"Hey, Paul?" She interrupted his worrying, giving him a look he couldn't quite read.

"Mhm?"

"I'm gonna ask you a question, but don't make it weird, okay?"

His heart leapt into his throat at the infinite possibilities, both good and bad. "Shoot."

Dakota took a deep breath, held it, then blew it out forcefully. "CanIphotographyouformyseniorproject?"

Relief bubbled in his chest like champagne. "Photograph me?"

"Well, yeah," she mumbled, turning back to the camera in her lap. "We have to do our project on a career, and I thought photography would be a pretty easy topic for me to write about. We have to have a product of sorts to go with it, too."

"Why me? Why not Leah or another one of your friends? I mean, I don't mind, but I don't get it."

She scoffed bitterly. "Leah's been avoiding me like the plague and I haven't really got any other 'friends' who I would even consider asking."

Aside from her name, it was the first real thing he'd learned about her. "Why not?"

At the seemingly harmless question, she began to withdraw back into herself. It was such a blatant coping mechanism, but still hid so much from him. "I'm not so great with people, I guess."

Paul went to reach for her hand, but thought better of it. "Well, you've got me—so when do you want to get started?"

Dakota popped the lens cover back on her camera and gave him a rueful smile. "I'm not sure yet, but I can give you a call when I've got everything figured out?"

She handed him her cell phone, so he saved his name and number to her contacts. As she tucked her camera into her back and checked to make sure she'd grabbed everything, he restrained himself from reaching out and pulling her in for a hug.

"Thanks for the ride," she said. "I'll give you a call soon, okay?"

She gave him a weak little wave and sloshed her way through the puddles that littered the walkway to her front porch. When she was safely under the overhang, she turned around for just a moment—just long enough for Paul to notice the gleam of tears in her eyes.

OoO

Fifteen calls, no answer. Frantically, she hit redial and paced around her living room, trying her hardest not to scream. At the mention of Leah, after spending the afternoon with the exact person she'd warned her about, Dakota had suddenly become overwhelmed with a miserable mixture of guilt and self-loathing. After admitting there was really no one by her side other than Leah, she felt like the worst best friend on the face of the planet and desperately needed the older girl to tell her everything was going to be okay.

Leah Clearwater, the only true friend she'd ever known, was ignoring her. Blatantly so, at that: most calls rang for around thirty seconds before going to voicemail, but the most recent calls went to the automated message in half that time. Dakota felt like she was on the verge of combusting, all of her emotions from the past few weeks flaring up at once and taking her by surprise.

After the sixteenth call, she dropped her phone on the couch and ran to the downstairs bathroom, emptying her stomach of its meager contents within an hour of putting them there. Her throat burned and tears streamed down her face as she hunched over the toilet bowl. All she could think as she retched as that the last time she'd felt how she did right then, she had ended up in the hospital for a second time.

A violent shudder rolled through her body, her nausea and memories of her last visit to Port Angeles equally to blame. The severity of her sudden episode was a cause for confusion, though; Dakota had been keeping up with her medications, using her stress ball, and even went on walks on afternoons she wasn't working. Although she was ostracized from Leah, it hadn't exactly been the type of week that would justify breaking down in the guest bathroom.

To calm herself, she stood at the sink and splashed cold water on her face. It was difficult to ignore her red-rimmed eyes and the rapid rise and fall of her chest, but she just continued to douse herself, not caring if she made a mess or not. She'd mop it up when she felt better.

The frigid water combined with the air blowing from the vent at her feet made her shiver. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but it gave her something to think about other than the fire in her stomach. Slowly, her breathing began to even out and her customary post-attack headache set in, signaling the end of the explosions in her chest.

After drying herself off, Dakota tossed a couple of hand towels over the small ocean on the tile floor and headed back into the living room. She checked her phone in vain, trying to ignore the dull pounding behind her eyes as she scrolled through her recent calls.

Once she made it past all of her outgoings to Leah, she saw where Paul had saved his own number and called it to get hers. For half a second, she considered calling him just to hear someone's voice, but she really didn't want to freak him out with her episodes yet. She considered him a friend, but she didn't think he'd be able to handle being around her if he knew what a loose cannon she could be.

Instead, she shot a text to her mom full of false details about how good things were going at home, and then tromped upstairs to her bedroom to put on pajamas and lay in bed. There was a stack of DVDs on her nightstand that called out to her, so she popped one in and turned the volume on low.

Once safely in comfortable flannel, Dakota burrowed into her bed and pressed play on the remote, taking some of the emergency pills she left on her bedside table for her episodes. The movie worked as a good distraction for a while—an easy-to-follow crime drama with just enough mystery to be interesting—but around 10:00pm, her phone began to ring downstairs.

At first, she ignored it. Her mom was working and Leah had been ignoring her for weeks, so really, who else could be calling? She turned the volume up on the TV slightly, hoping to drown out the noise. It worked well enough, and Dakota pulled her comforter tighter around herself.

She had just eased back into the movie when the house phone began to chime, announcing an incoming call from a number she didn't recognize. The rain seemed to beat a little harder, the wind seemed to howl a little louder, and she was forced to pause the movie and head downstairs. Her mind was beginning to work itself back into a panic, and with each step she took closer to the ringing phone, the harder her heart began to pound.

With a shaky hand, she took the receiver off the line, unable to speak. Instead, she listed to the noises in the background on the other side of the line, unable to make out anything but tense and muffled speaking.

"Miss Moreno?" A voice chimed on the other end, causing Dakota's breath to hitch. "Miss Dakota Moreno?"

"H-hello?" She squeaked, much more terrified than she cared to admit.

"Good evening, ma'am. This is Dr. Cullen from Forks General," the man said cordially. "Your mother had an incident at work, and you are first on her emergency contact list."

"Hospital?" Dakota repeated dumbly.

"Yes ma'am. If you could come straight away, it would be greatly appreciated."

As if on autopilot, her mouth managed to thank the doctor for calling and her hands hung up the phone and her legs took her back upstairs to put on clothes. Then they walked her back downstairs to where she'd left her phone, which her hands used to call Leah out of habit.

Although she wasn't surprised when she didn't answer, it snapped her back to the reality of the situation. Her mom was in the hospital, and she had no way to get there because her best friend was being a little pissbaby about—

" _Paul!_ " She thought aloud, scrolling as quickly as she could through her phone until she came across his number. Without giving herself a chance to overthink it, she called.

He answered on the fourth ring, sounding absolutely winded. "Hello?"

"Paul, I need you." She wanted to kick herself as soon as the phrase left her mouth, knowing full well the connotation of it.

"And don't you forget it!"

"Paul, my mom is in the hospital and Leah won't answer her phone. I need you."

"Oh, _shit,"_ he exclaimed. She thought she heard the sound of rustling leaves in the background. "Give me ten minutes, I'll be right there. Do you know what happened?"

"No," she droned, as if in a trance. "But we'll find out when we get there, I guess."

"Don't worry, Kota. Everything's gonna be alright."

At his comforting words, she let go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thank you, Paul."

"Don't thank me—I'm here, whenever you need me. I'll see you in a minute, okay? Be ready to run out the door."

She agreed and hung up, lighting a cigarette the second her phone was in her pocket. As she paced the living room, she tried not to worry herself into a frenzy about how her mother had ended up where she was, but instead tried to focus on how glad she was that Paul had answered. Between drags, she muttered "thank you" to whatever inanimate object would listen, willing herself to stay calm.

When she finished the first, she lit a second one off its ember, afraid of how badly she would freak out if given the opportunity to really _think_ about what was going on. Instead of dwelling on it, she ran back to the guest bathroom and cleaned up her mess from before to make the time pass faster.

Before she knew it, a horn sounded from her front yard. She threw the towel she was using to the floor, grabbing her bag on her way out the door. The constant rain and wind of the Washington coast brought a foreign sense of dread with it, pounding down on the driveway around her as she sprinted to the truck.

"Let's go," Dakota urged, snapping her seatbelt in place. "I need to know what's going on before I lose my mind."

Paul backed out of the driveway in one swift motion. "Do you have any ideas?"

She lit a third cigarette, surprised when he didn't recoil in disgust as he had in the past. "Absolutely no clue. Doctor Cullen called the house and said she was there, but didn't explain any more than that."

At the mention of the doctor, she could've sworn she heard Paul practically _growl—_ she shot him a bewildered look, but he kept his eyes on the road as he spoke. "Do you want me to come in?"

A crack of lightning lit the sky ahead of them, and she waiting for the following clap of thunder to sound before whispering, "It would be nice. I hate hospitals."

He was going at least fifteen over the speed limit, but thankfully there were no other cars in sight. It might've been uncommon to get pulled for speeding in Forks, Washington, but Dakota's luck wasn't exactly at its peak, so she continually checked the mirrors for headlights behind them.

They made it to the hospital in record time, swinging into the first open parking space and darting inside. Their shoes squeaked against the linoleum as they approached the triage nurse, but she didn't look up from her computer screen. It was all Dakota could do not to violently bang on the service bell sitting on the counter, but she managed to clear her throat politely. Being rude to the nurse would only make things harder in the long run.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asked, not even attempting to fake a smile. There were extremely dark bags under her eyes and Dakota spotted an empty energy drink can in the trash behind the desk, so she tried not to take her bored stare too personally.

"My mother was recently admitted: Katherine Moreno. I need to speak with her doctor."

Beside her, Paul made another odd noise like he had in the truck, but the nurse didn't seem to notice. She was too busy typing away at her computer, clicking around a few times before pulling out a notepad from beneath her keyboard and scribbling something down on it.

"This is the room number and the security code to the door in the hallway. Doctor Cullen should be with her as we speak."

Dakota grabbed the paper and sped down the hallway, completely forgetting to thank the nurse. _Oh well,_ she thought, _I'm sure she doesn't really care._ She punched in the security code and shoved the door open the second it unlocked, almost forgetting Paul was with her.

He kept her pace without any trouble, even beginning to walk ahead of her with just as much determination as she had. Although he hadn't seen the room number on the paper, he led the way confidently and stopped at the door marked 47. She didn't even bother to check the paper in her hands, for she could see her mother through the little window in the door.

"Momma," she gasped, pushing past Paul. "Oh my god, Momma…"

Dakota rushed to her mother's bedside, gaping at the bulky brace around the woman's neck and the dark bruising around her left eye. She looked absolutely _awful,_ and Dakota felt the fire rising in her stomach all over again.

"Hello again, Dakota," came a cool voice from the corner of the room. "It's nice to see you, although I wish it were under better circumstances. The same goes for you, Mr. Lahote. "

In a flash, Paul was by her side, arm protectively slung over her shoulders. Dakota didn't have the energy to fight him about it, or ask how he knew the doctor, instead turning to the blonde man. "What happened to her?"

At that, the small smile disappeared from the man's unnaturally beautiful face. "It seems that she was attacked in the parking lot while getting in her car."

The grip around her tightened ever so slightly, and Dakota felt her throat go dry. The doctor continued, "She has defensive fractures in both forearms, two bulging discs in her neck, and some obvious cuts and bruises."

"Did they catch who did it?" It was Paul who spoke this time.

The doctor shook his head, but Dakota noticed a catch in his voice as he said, "The attacker was seen fleeing the scene, headed towards the _reservation._ "

Beside her, she felt him tense. The two men seemed to share a silent conversation with their eyes, and the fire in her stomach began to roar with ten times the ferocity it had earlier that evening. Silently she excused herself, darting down the hallway to the nearest bathroom and locking herself in the first open stall.

In that room, her mother laid unconscious, battered, and bruised from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If Dakota hadn't been such a needy child—photography and Dr. Gwen and special early dinner dates to take her mind off of her pathetic life—her mom wouldn't have been there. She wouldn't have needed the second job that kept her out of the house until the early hours of the morning dealing with the least reputable characters in the county. If she wasn't so _broken,_ her mom would've been safe at home watching the evening news and having a beer, or maybe even out on a date instead of being a prisoner to her daughter's ridiculous needs. As Dakota teetered precariously over the toilet, nothing but guilt left her mouth.

Hours could've passed in that stall, the sickly stench of disinfectant wiping her mind of any concept of time. All she knew was that the traumatic events of that evening were her fault, the collapsing of her only friendship was her fault, and her pathetic inability to toughen up for the things that really mattered was her fault, too.

There came a knock at the stall door, and she muttered that it was occupied. The feet belonging to the woman who'd disturbed her didn't move, however, and Dakota willed herself not to scream in frustration. Instead she screwed her eyes shut, sitting on the toilet and pulling her feet to her chest.

"Hey," came a soft and familiar voice from the floor. "Let me in."

When she opened her eyes, none other than the elusive Leah Clearwater was spread out on the bathroom floor, peering up at her best friend from beneath the thick plastic wall. An inkling of anger came and went in an instant, and soon she found herself sobbing uncontrollably as her best friend dragged herself into the little stall.

"Shh," the older girl soothed, taking Dakota into her arms and trying to stay upright in the tiny space. "Everything is okay. She's going to be okay. Breathe."

She just sobbed harder, limbs shaking and nose running, knotting her hands into Leah's t-shirt. Although a quiet voice in the back of her mind whispered for an argument, it was drowned out by the immense amount of comfort that came from being safe in her best friend's arms.

"It's my fault," Dakota blubbered. "She wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for me!"

"It's not your fault, honey," Leah murmured into her hair. "The only person at fault is the person who did it, and we're gonna get him. I swear to you, we'll get him."

There was something steely in her promise, a grit that began to calm the younger girl. She couldn't explain why, but she was sure Leah was right. She used the thought to ebb the flow of tears down her cheeks, and within a few minutes, she was calm once again.

"Thank you," Dakota whispered, wiping her face with cheap toilet paper. "Thank you for coming."

"If I had known what was going on, I would've been here sooner. I'm sorry I haven't been answering your calls—"

"Don't apologize. You're here now, that's what matters."

"Still. I'm sorry."

"Well, you're forgiven. How'd you know where I was, anyway?"

Leah looked down at her feet in shame. "Paul called the house, left a message with Seth. I came as soon as I could."

Dakota gave a weak smile. "So I guess he isn't too bad, huh?"

The somber mood having subsided, Leah snorted lightly. "I still think he's ridiculous, but I guess he's not too bad."

As if summoned, there was a hard knock at the outer door of the women's restroom. The hinges groaned in protest as the heavy door swung open, and heavy footsteps made their way into the room. "Kota, are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," she was flustered, not wanting anyone to see her in the state she was in—especially not Paul. "I'll be right out."

There was a pause on the other side of the stall. "Alright, well I'll be right outside, okay?"

Leah rolled her eyes as the door squeaked shut again behind him, and the smaller girl found herself chuckling. As she stood cramped in a microscopic, dingy bathroom stall next to her best friend and rock, she felt courageous enough to go back to her mother's bedside and hold herself together. Her mom needed her to be strong, and one way or another, Dakota was determined to come through.


	4. Spilling Secrets

Paul was running himself ragged. The head leech had talked to him more in depth about Kate Moreno's attacker once Dakota was out of the room, and just like he assumed, it was a rogue bloodsucker on the loose in the territory. He had woken Sam up the second he got home that night with the news, which in turn had caused his Alpha to amp up patrols tenfold. The entire pack wanted to be mad at him, but kept their mouths shut about it.

He hadn't had any time to visit Dakota since that night, but he convinced Sam to include her house in their patrol loops regardless of the fact that she lived in Forks. She was the first imprint to live off of the reservation, and Sam agreed that even though it would involve a little extra running on their part, it was worth it to protect one of their own. Leah sacrificed some sleep to visit her every couple of days to keep tabs on the situation, and from what he could see in her memory when they patrolled together, Dakota was holding herself together relatively well, so he tried to calm his nerves and reassure himself that she was safe.

There was a memory that Paul stumbled upon that caused Leah to attack him mid-patrol, however, and she made it a point to demand separate patrol times to avoid him digging into her thoughts from that point on. The only one he'd really gotten a glimpse of included her best friend at her mother's bedside, the older woman scribbling furiously in a notebook as it physically pained her to speak. He couldn't quite see what she'd written before Leah had thrown him from her mind, snarling and threatening to murder him in at least twelve different fashions if he didn't mind his own business.

There was something odd about the attack; the fact that Kate had survived, even relatively unscathed considering what she'd fought, had caused Paul to think there had to be more to the story than just a lone wanderer passing through. Knowing that Leah was keeping secrets from the pack, especially those that centered on Dakota, only deepened his suspicion. When he voiced that concern to his Alpha, however, it was written off as imprint-related anxiety and swept under the rug. It wasn't until Kate Moreno was able to return home that anyone even considered a possibility of something more worrisome.

"What do you mean she wants to talk to us?" Sam asked, pacing his kitchen as Emily scampered around him trying to make breakfast.

"I mean, she wants to talk to us. In particular, you, but she asked you to bring whoever you could spare."

"How does she know I can't spare anyone, Leah?" His tone was bordering accusatory, but he softened when he saw the girl flinch. "What is going on?"

She sighed heavily. "In the hospital, she was talking about how _fast_ the guy moved, how cold he was—Cullen tried to convince her that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, but when I went with Kota to visit her, she looked at me like she _knew._ I can't explain it. I haven't told her anything, but I think she knows."

"How could she know? She's never even heard the legends!" Paul exclaimed, fully aware of the woman's lack of free time.

"She hasn't, but Kota has! And if _any_ of you actually knew anything about her," she directed that at him, narrowing her eyes. "You'd know that she talks to her mom about everything. And I'm not exaggerating when I say everything."

"So, saying that Kate put two and two together, why hasn't Kota?" Paul fired back, clenching the table as hard as he could without damaging it. Leah's know-it-all attitude about his imprint was starting to get old, and it took a lot of self-restraint to keep from dragging her out of the kitchen by her throat.

"Well, once again, you don't know Kota very well," Paul couldn't contain the snarl that left his mouth, but she ignored him. "She doesn't believe in anything at all, not as long as I've known her. No religion, no fairy tales, no legends—she's a skeptic, through and through."

"Then what makes you think Kate doesn't think the same way?" Sam positioned himself between the two most volatile members of his pack, doing his best to keep the peace while still getting answers.

"Her mom is a bit more… optimistic than she is. I can't explain the why and how of it, but I'm almost certain she knows."

"Why not just go talk to her, Sam?" Emily set a plate of pancakes in front of each of pack members not involved in the heated debate, who immediately dug in while keeping their eyes on their Alpha. "If she knows, couldn't that be helpful in the long run?"

Leah smiled gratefully at her cousin, remembering why they were so close before the Sam incident. Although she could come off as unbearably naïve, she was actually very smart and knew how to use being the Alpha's imprint to her advantage. When Emily spoke, Paul noticed Sam's shoulders sag in defeat.

"Fine. We'll talk with her, but I'm not going to tell her anything if I can help it. I don't want this to blow up in our faces."

0o0

The three of them packed into Paul's little single-cab truck and headed to Forks right after breakfast, deciding it would be best to talk with the woman when her daughter wasn't home. It was an incredibly uncomfortable ride, with Paul shoulder to shoulder with the one girl whose ass he wanted to kick and poor Leah sandwiched next to the man she'd once expected to marry. The two men ignored the awkward spike in her heartbeat as Sam climbed into the passenger seat, but Leah was still incredibly embarrassed about the whole thing.

When they arrived at the Moreno home, she couldn't get out of the truck fast enough. Without stopping to see if the other two were following her, she charged up to the front door and rapped her knuckles sharply on the door before letting herself in. It may have seemed rude to anyone else, but Kate had made it a point to let the girl know that she was not a guest in their house—she was family.

"Do we just… go?" For the first time since Paul had known him, Sam looked nervous. Even when they fought against the newborn army, the Alpha had showed only determination to his pack. Seeing his leader so blatantly anxious made his inner wolf squirm, too.

Instead of answering aloud, Paul just gestured for Sam to follow him into the house, trying not to dream up a million and one awful scenarios that could happen. The house was immaculately clean and smelled sharply of floor cleaner and air freshener. It made it impossible for either man to smell anything else, so instead they followed their ears to the dining room, where Kate Moreno sat at the head of the table looking more like she belonged in a Godfather movie than Forks. Leah sat to her right, staring at her folded hands on the table.

"Sam," Kate greeted coldly, gesturing to the other end of the small table, "Please, sit. You too, Paul."

Once they'd awkwardly taken their seats, Kate took a deep breath and looked them over one by one. Leah couldn't meet her eyes, as if she had committed some sort of grand sin, so the woman moved on to Sam. She took in his wide frame in one swift look, clucking her tongue in disapproval. When she turned to Paul, however, her stern look hardened even more.

"I know why you speak to my daughter," she finally declared. "And if you want to make sure you don't fuck it up, you'd best wait here until she gets home to talk to her. She's livid at you."

Paul blanched, his mind going back to the sweet woman in Rosie's who demanded not to be called miss for fear of sounding old. "I don—"

"Don't you dare play fucking dumb with me Paul!" Her tone went from level to absolutely hysterical instantly, snapping him into silence.

"Ms. Moreno," Sam interjected calmly. "Why did you ask us to come here?"

"I have a problem, and you're the only people who can help."

"What do you mean?" Leah finally looked up from her hands. Kate looked at her as if she'd just asked why the grass was green.

"You're the only ones who can protect her."

A silence fell over them as they took in her words, the three of them trying to keep their composure. Sam tried to quickly think of a way to get more out of the cryptic woman without outing his pack, but Leah spoke first.

"We're all trying to keep Kota's head above water, Kate," she said quietly, going out on a limb and taking the woman's hand.

"Leah, honey, I love you like my own. Please don't treat me like I'm stupid." When Sam cocked an eyebrow at her in an attempt to play it off, she sighed in frustration. "You know that I know, I can see it on your face."

Paul kept quiet, not wanting to trigger another screech from her. If she knew about the imprint—which is what it was beginning to look like—he needed her to warm up to him. If what she said about Dakota being angry with him was true, he was going to have to spend the day under the same roof as her. Plus, if Leah was right about how close the girl was with her mom, the woman was entirely capable of swaying his imprint's opinion of him one way or the other. The very thought made him nervous.

"You're going to have to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you if you expect us to be able to help you," Sam declared, crossing his huge arms as if to emphasize the finality of his words.

Kate dug into her pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and without a word Leah stood to find her an ashtray. She lit one with a steady hand and her eyes trained on Sam's like a hawk, and Paul had an idea as to why Dakota smoked, too. She was trying to mirror her mom. As she sat there with smoke crawling out of her nose like a dragon, glowering at the Alpha of a pack of shapeshifters while in a neck brace, he saw why his imprint would want to be like the woman before them: she was brave. Even though her bad habit had nothing to do with her bravery, it made sense that an impressionable young girl would mimic her hero in any way she could.

"Here you go." Leah slid an ashtray in front of her, pulling the woman from her thoughts and back into the reality of her situation. She nodded her thanks and thumped her ash, all the while still glaring at Sam. The silence had almost grown to the point of unbearable when she finally spoke.

"After the… _incident,_ I remembered a story Kota had told me from one of your gatherings when she was younger. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but when I came home I took the time to research into it a little deeper."

"And what exactly did you find, Ms. Moreno?" Sam sounded like a lawyer interrogating a witness at the stand.

"The Cold Ones," she spat. "That's what I found."

"Those are just legends," he waved a hand in the air for emphasis. "We hear them from the time we're born until we die; it's just a tribal tradition."

"And what about the Spirit Warriors? You mean to tell me that they're just part of the legend as well?"

"Yes, I do."

"You're full of shit and we both know it."

"What makes you think that?"

Kate narrowed her eyes dangerously at him, daring him to contradict her one more time. "I saw how you loved Leah, Sam Uley. I know you wouldn't have left her unless the _spirits_ intervened," Leah visibly flinched, but the woman continued. "I saw her go from my second smart-ass daughter to a shell of herself because of you, and I know just how much she hated you for what you did. She never would have come near you again if she had a choice, yet she was the one I had to go through to contact you."

She took a deep breath, continuing with a snarl in her voice. "And then there's your fiancée, and the unexplained _bear_ attack that happened right in your back yard," Sam began to growl deep in his throat, but Kate kept going. "But we both know what really happened to her. And the unexplained murders two years ago, all of the victims seemingly magically drained of blood, where were you then? Or when I was attacked by one of those fucking _monsters_ as he demanded to know how to find my fucking daughter—where the fuck were you, Sam?!"

Her shrill accusation rang throughout the house, stunning them all into silence once more. Paul was shaking, replaying her last question on a continuous loop in his head. He tried desperately to calm himself, but even bringing Dakota's face to mind did nothing to stop the anger. All he could think was that one of those filthy bloodsuckers was searching for his imprint, and he wasn't with her to protect her. Immediately he stood to leave, to patrol Forks High School for hours until she was let out, to follow her home, to sleep under her window to make sure nothing was able to get to her.

"Paul, sit." The Alpha's command forced him back into his chair, but he still trembled. Sam tried to even his breathing, and Leah stared into nothingness. To say it was uncomfortable would have been an understatement.

"I know exactly what you are," Kate whispered, all anger purged from her system as her eyes pleaded with their Alpha from across the table. "And I know you can protect my baby from something that I can't. Please, Sam. Keep her safe."

Sam paused a beat before sighing heavily, running a hand down his face in exhaustion. It was obvious that the woman's accusations had taken him off guard, and had definitely taken a toll on him. He prided himself on his pack's ability to keep the residents of La Push out of harm's way, but at her accusations, he couldn't help but feel like he should be worried about more than just his own tribe.

"We're going to do everything we can," he finally relented, pulling a sigh of relief from Kate. "But you're going to have to tell us everything that happened, in detail. It might be hard, but anything you know will help."

0o0

If Dakota was being completely honest with herself, she hated riding the school bus more than she hated actually being at the school itself. When she was there, the only time she had to worry about navigating the landmines that were the students of Forks High School was during lunch, and even then it was easy to duck outside with some crackers and spend the period taking pictures of the woods behind campus. On the bus, however, she was stuck in a sea of them, and she knew that any wrong move would result in a catastrophe.

With her mother being at home during the day for a while, she could've taken the car instead, but she didn't want to waste gas on something so trivial. Neither of her mom's jobs were exactly very generous when it came to her leave, so more and more of Dakota's money from her job at the convenience store was being used for things like groceries, gas, and cigarettes for the two of them. She didn't mind—in fact, she had made it a point to do things like that before her mother's injury—but her limited hours would soon become an problem.

The only solution to that specific issue was to drop out of school so she could work during the day, but she knew that wouldn't fly with her mom, so she brainstormed other ways to make up the difference. She was in the middle of wondering how much she could charge to tutor freshmen after school when someone behind her yanked her left headphone from her ear, ripping her out of her plans and plopping her right in the middle of her own personal hell.

"Hey, I have a question for you."

She turned around to see a face she vaguely recognized, but was unable to put a name to. "Yeah?"

The boy glanced at his friends beside him and they sniggered. "Do you have any suggestions on how to off myself? I know you've tried about everything, so I wanted to know what you'd recommend."

Blood rushed to her face and the fire sparked in her stomach, but this time it spread all the way up to her chest. Her mouth went dry and she felt like she'd forgotten how to speak English, so she ended up just gaping at the hateful boy until he and his friends burst into gut-wrenching laughter.

The bus screeched to a halt, and Dakota breathed a sigh of relief when she realized it was her stop. She gathered her things and charged for the exit, not pausing to thank the bus driver as she normally did. The incident hadn't been the first, nor would it be the last, but that didn't make it any better.

She was so upset by the ordeal that she charged straight into her home without taking note of Paul's truck in the driveway. When she closed the door behind her, she heard her mom call out for her from the kitchen. After dropping her backpack and camera bag on the couch, she did her best to pull a strong face and went to see what her mom needed.

"How was your day, honey?" Her mom had definitely seen better days, but her black eye was healing up nicely and she was able to move her hands to squeeze her daughter's shoulders when she saw the forced smile on her face. "What's wrong?"

Dakota let the mask fall and shrugged out of her mother's grasp, heading for the medicine cabinet and dry-swallowing two of her "counter attack" pills. "Graduation cannot come fast enough. Do you need anything specific from the store?"

Her mom caught onto the subject change, but let it drop. She knew her daughter would talk to her when she was ready. The woman made her way to her purse hanging off of a dining room chair and pulled out a few dollar bills. "I'm low on smokes, but otherwise I'm alright. Are you heading out right now?"

She waved her mom's money away. There was still enough in her savings to keep them going for a bit longer, and she didn't want her mom to have to worry about it yet. "Yeah, we're out of milk and creamer, and I'm sure I'll see a couple of other things we need."

"You want some company?"

Dakota whipped around to see Paul leaning in the doorway of her kitchen, smiling at her. She hadn't seen him in nearly a month, and he looked like he hadn't slept since then. There were massive bags under his eyes, and his five o'clock shadow had grown into an actual beard. A small voice in the back of her mind marveled at how he still managed to look good like that, but she suffocated it with her anger.

After he brought her home from the hospital that night, Dakota had assumed he'd seen enough of her instability to know what he was getting himself in for. During the first week, she tried to convince herself that he was just busy and he'd get up with her soon. The second week could be summarized by the texts to him she'd typed out and deleted for fear of being annoying. After the third week of nothing, she'd tried (and failed) to scratch him from her thoughts and focus on more pertinent matters. In fact, she was so upset that he had the audacity to show up after so long that she didn't even bother asking why he was in her house in the first place.

"I've managed this long without you around, so I'm pretty sure I can go to the grocery store on my own." She wanted her words to sound disinterested, as if she didn't care what in the hell he decided to do with himself as long as he left her alone. Instead, they came across bitter and hurt.

Sensing an argument, her mom fled the kitchen with the excuse of needing to do laundry. Once the two of them were alone, Paul began to cross the room in her direction, but she busied herself with climbing onto the counters to check the cabinets for things they might need. The logical part of her mind demanded to know why she couldn't forgive him the same way she'd forgiven Leah, but something deep in the pit of her stomach wouldn't let her. His disappearance felt more like a personal affront than anything Leah had ever done, and she couldn't explain why.

"Kota, I'm sorry," he began. "I've just been so busy with work and—"

"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't start with that shit. Just leave me alone."

"I'm not going anywhere," he fired back stubbornly, leaning on the counter and trying to get her to look at him. "It's the first time I've been free in a month and you're going to hang out with me whether you like it or not."

"That sounds a lot more like kidnapping than hanging out." She lowered herself from the counter, shrugging Paul's arms from around her when he tried to help her down.

"If the only way you'll spend time with me is through kidnapping, then so be it." He flashed another charming smile, and she felt her throat tighten.

"I really don't have the patience for this right now," she sighed, running her hands through her hair. "Can't you just go back to pretending I don't exist? I was starting to get used to it."

The smile fell, replaced with such a pained expression she wondered if he was ill. "Dakota, don't talk like that."

"Why not? It's true—you saw too much crazy and you ran like hell."

Without warning, he wrapped both of his giant arms around her shoulders and snatched her to his chest. Regardless of how much she squirmed and squiggled, he wouldn't let go, so eventually she gave up and just stood there. He was quivering slightly, and for the first time since she'd met him she noticed how warm he was. The heat rolling off of him was enough to force her anger to the back of her mind as she reached up her hand and felt his forehead: it was burning up, too.

"Paul, you're sick. You're burning up and you're shivering," she exclaimed, somehow prying herself from his arms and looking him up and down nervously. "You need to sit down."

He just chuckled, taking her by surprise. "I'm not sick, Kota. I just run a little warmer than others."

"You run warm," she repeated dumbly, unsure of if she bought that explanation. "What about the shivers? You've got chills!"

"Sometimes I… shake, a little, when I get upset. There's nothing to worry about."

She eyed him disbelievingly for a few moments, and he held her gaze strongly. "If you say so," she finally relented. "But if I get sick, I'll kill you."

The grin that overtook his face was so big it actually looked a little goofy, and before she could stop herself, Dakota returned it halfheartedly. There was a split second of disbelief on Paul's part before he reached out again and scooped her back into another bone-crushing hug.

"What are you doing?" She managed to gasp, her face squished against his shirt.

"I'm celebrating your forgiveness," he said smugly, giving her one last squeeze before letting her go.

"Who the hell says you're forgiven?"

"You said you'd kill me!" He exclaimed, far too excited for someone who'd just received a death threat. "You've come back to me!"

Although she wanted to keep being angry with him, she couldn't. Instead of continuing to argue, she just rolled her eyes in defeat and charged into the living room to get her bag.

"You've got a while before you're completely forgiven, but you're forgiven enough to come to the store with me. Get your shit and let's go, you idiot."


	5. Unanswered Questions

"So when do you want to get together for those pictures?" Paul waited until they were back at her home before asking.

Dakota cocked an eyebrow at him. After not hearing from him for so long, his question about something she'd practically forgotten about was strange. Instead of giving a solid answer, she just shrugged and grabbed the few bags of groceries she'd bought and made her way into the house with him hot on her heels.

"Well, when's it due?" He pressed, taking the bags before she could object and carrying them into the kitchen.

"The beginning of December," she said. "But I was considering changing my topic while I've still got the time."

He looked hurt, but immediately busied himself with unloading the items onto the counter. "Why would you do that?"

She couldn't help but roll her eyes at his back. "Because if I don't see you but once a month, I _might_ have a whopping six pictures to work with and that definitely won't cut it."

"What if I could promise you that you'd see me every day?"

"I thought you were busy with stuff for Sam?" Surprisingly, she wasn't angry. She was just a little annoyed and confused about the whole situation.

"He'll understand," he replied simply.

Dakota scoffed. "If he's been slaving you for a month straight, what makes you think he'll change his mind now?"

"The situation is different now." The sudden drop in his tone took her off guard.

"What do you mean?"

There was a pause before he answered, "It's just different. I can't explain it."

Although she was sure he was still holding back, she let it drop. There was only so much arguing she could handle in one day, and they'd definitely maxed out her quota before they'd gone to the store. Instead of pressing for a better explanation, she just came up beside him and started to put things away.

"So… pictures?" He seemed like he was genuinely trying to make amends, and with only a little reluctance, Dakota decided to let him. There was nothing to gain from staying mad if he was going to keep being so stubborn about it.

"I have an appointment later, but we might be able to get a few shots done before I need to head out."

Paul's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and he made another move to hug her. Even though she was beginning to consider him forgiven, she was wary of any kind of physical affection coming from him. _Remember what Leah said,_ she thought to herself. As nonchalantly as she could, she ducked under his arm and put the milk and creamer into the fridge.

"Where do you want to take them?" Thankfully, he didn't make the dodged-hug situation any more awkward than it already was.

"I had an idea for a place, if you're able to walk a little bit."

" _You're_ worried about _me_ walking?"

"Well, you're a little top heavy—I wouldn't want those skipped leg days to slow me down."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Has anyone ever told you what a little shit you can be?"

"I used to tell her every other day," called her mom from the living room, laughing rambunctiously. "It only made it worse!"

At that, Dakota shot him the most innocent smile she could muster before lighting a cigarette and flouncing off in search of her camera bag. He watched her go in a daze, wondering how in the hell he managed to imprint on one of the most confusing females on the planet.

0o0

"Why do I have to keep my eyes closed?" Paul whined, trying to use his other senses to figure out where they were. The only thing he'd figured out was that they were in the woods, presumably behind Dakota's house, and they were beginning to veer off of the trail.

She gripped his forearm and led him through the underbrush, warning him whenever a particularly nasty root or rock came across their path. "It's part of the mystery! For fuck's sake, Paul, can't you just go with the flow for once in your life?"

"So following you into the ocean wasn't going with the flow?"

There was a pause. "Alright, you've got me there. Go with the flow _again,_ then, Mr. Particular."

There was something addictive about the way she talked to him; he never knew what to expect out of her mouth, and it just made him all the more desperate to know her.

With the ability to look at her taken from him, he tried to focus more on other aspects of Dakota. Her voice was a little deeper than one would expect it to be from looking at her, and she smelled of vanilla and cigarette smoke. He wanted to eventually help her knock the second part of that out, but he knew better than to nag just yet—it was too early in the game.

The only thing that seemed odd was her hand on his arm: it was a tad too cold for his liking. The weather had yet to turn to the bitter chill of autumn in Washington, and he knew it wasn't his heat making him misjudge because she was still colder than Emily or Kim. He wanted to ask her, but had no idea how to do so. _Hey, I have super wolf senses and noticed you're running a couple degrees cooler than the other regular humans I have contact with, what's up with that_ didn't seem like it would go over too well.

"Are you cold?" He finally managed, figuring it was a safe way to address the situation.

"My hand too cool for you?"

"No, I just—"

She chuckled humorlessly. "I was kidding, man. I've got some blood flow issues, so my hands are always a little chilly."

Paul had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from asking her about it. It was obvious from the way she spoke that she didn't want to go into any more detail, but he was practically dying to know. He just wanted to _know_ her, and she definitely wasn't making it easy. He was in the middle of thinking of safe things to ask to get a little more insight on her when she commanded him to open his eyes.

Before him there stood an enormous oak tree, the ends of its branches reaching up to the sky and disappearing in the canopy. There was a large tree house built around the base, its floor cut specifically to rest on the branches below it. It even had window cut-outs that looked out into the woods. A moss-covered rope ladder hung from what looked to be the entrance at the base of the building, and he turned to Dakota in shock.

"What _is_ this?" He asked, trying not to let himself get distracted by the cute little pensive smile on her face.

"Leah and I found it a long time ago," she gestured grandly at it. "Isn't it great? It's super sturdy, so it'll definitely hold us. Go ahead up!"

He shook his head. "No, you go up first. If you fall, I want to be able to catch you."

"Yeah, right—you just want to look at my ass, you creep. First the nipples, now this; you're unbearable Lahote."

"Just climb up the damn ladder, Kota," he laughed.

She placed her foot on the bottom rung, paused long enough to shoot him a dirty look over her shoulder, and pulled herself up. He restrained himself from looking up at her as he followed, determined to change her opinion of him. In fact, he didn't even look up until his head was poking through the entrance of the tree house.

"Wow," he breathed, taking in all of the tapestries nailed to the walls and pillows on the floor. "You two spend a lot of time up here, huh?"

"Just me, these days," she replied, unrolling the heavy plastic covers from the tops of the windows and securing them at the bottom. "I bought this plastic tarp shit a couple of months ago to be ready for the rainy season, but Leah doesn't really care one way or the other."

He hoisted himself easily into the little room, surprised when he could almost stand to full height. "It's bigger than it looks, too."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," she teased, securing the last window shut.

He couldn't stop himself from laughing, even if her words reminded him of his not-so-reputable past. There was something about such a well-timed dick joke coming out of the tiny girl in front of him that was just too good to pass up, and he allowed himself to enjoy it. He found himself genuinely thankful that he'd imprinted on a girl with such a crude sense of humor, for that was his favorite kind.

"Seriously, Kota, this is actually really cool."

She looked over her shoulder and smirked at him, and he filed the image in his head for later when he missed her. "Of course it's cool—I wouldn't drag you all this way to see an outhouse!"

He couldn't contain the grin that spread across his face, not that he really wanted to. It was the first time she'd deliberately spent time with him, and he'd already pulled two smiles and a handful of jokes out of her. He was definitely making progress.

"So what do you do out here?"

Dakota gestured to something standing in one of the corners of the room covered by a huge black trash bag, and he shot her a confused look. With a sigh, she walked over to it and pulled the bag off dramatically, revealing the largest stack of CD cases Paul had ever seen in his life.

"This is where I hoard my music," she explained. "I've got the digital copies of pretty much all of them, but I like to come out here to be alone sometimes."

The thought of Dakota sitting alone in an old tree house in the middle of the woods while a crazed bloodsucker was searching for her made Paul incredibly uneasy, but he found comfort in the fact that the trash bag had a heavy layer of dust on it. He could tell it had been some time since she'd been out there, and the fact that she'd decided to show the place to him—somewhere that was obviously so personal—made his heart leap into his throat. He made a mental note to find the tree house on his next patrol so that way it could be included in the loop, just in case she decided to come back when he wasn't around to protect her.

"How do you listen to any of them without electricity?"

"I've got an old portable CD player in the house—it's a monstrous thing, but it does the job."

"Why didn't you grab it on the way out?"

She sat down in front of the stack and gestured for him to sit next to her. After he'd gotten comfortable, she began to dig through the pile and pull out cases seemingly at random, hardly giving him enough time to read the hand-written titles on the spines.

"We're not listening to them right now," she said, making a separate pile between their knees. "I'm sending some of these off with you. That way, I don't have to write you that list, and you're obligated to come back to see me."

"I thought we were gonna take some pictures," he said, nudging her lightly with his elbow. "Plus, you don't have to trick me into hanging out with you. I promised, remember?"

"Well, if you weren't bluffing, then we've got plenty of time to get the shots I need. In the meantime, I want to educate you."

He wanted to be annoyed that she doubted his word, but deep down he knew she had reason to. Instead of dwelling on it, however, he began to look at the scrawled titles of the CDs she'd pulled out for him. He didn't recognize any of the names, but after what he heard in the car the night he first met her, he was confident in her choices.

"So… this is homework?" He smiled at her, realizing just how close they were. He could've counted all of her freckles if she'd turn to face him head on. It took a lot of concentration on his part not to lean in even closer.

"And this is your first assignment," she said, handing him the last CD. "It's only an EP, so you should be able to knock it out before tomorrow."

" _The New Age,_ " he read aloud. "I haven't heard of them before."

"I think you'll like them. At least, for the sake of our friendship, I hope you do." Her tone was very serious, but the corners of her mouth were twitching like she was doing her best to hold back a grin. Even though it wasn't really a full smile, Paul counted it as the third.

He opened his mouth to say something smart-ass in return when Dakota's phone began to chime. She dug into her seemingly bottomless bag and cursed under her breath when she looked at the screen.

"What's wrong?" He asked, instantly in protector mode. She held up the screen for him to see an alarm, and he knitted his eyebrows together in confusion. "What about it?"

"My appointment—I set an alarm so I wouldn't be late. I've gotta head out." She rose to her feet and covered the original stack with its trash bag, making her way to the hatch.

"Do you want me to take you? I've got the afternoon free." He gathered up the CDs she'd pulled out for him and followed her down the rope ladder.

"N-no," she answered quickly. "I've got it. Thanks, though."

The sudden change in her demeanor unnerved Paul. She began to power through the forest the way he assumed they had come, not stopping once to look over her shoulder to see if he was still following. Due to his hearing, he noticed her heartbeat had increased suddenly, and he could see she was gripping the strap of her bag so hard her knuckles had gone white.

"What's wrong? What's the appointment for?" He actually had to jog to catch up to her, she was walking so fast.

"The nipple," she said humorlessly. "I have to go see the nipple doctor."

A growl threatened to leave his throat, but he choked it down as best as he could. She was definitely hiding something. He figured it had something to do with the memory he'd gotten a glimpse of in Leah's mind—she was _definitely_ in on it. Emily probably was, too, considering she'd known to ask Dakota about her medication. He racked his brain the entire walk back and tried to think of anyone else who might be more willing to tell him something about what was wrong with his imprint.

When they made it back to the house, Dakota hurried to gather her things before planting a kiss on the top of her mom's head and darting out the front door. She didn't even stop to say goodbye to Paul, which hurt him much more than he cared to admit. He watched through the window as she leapt into her mom's little car and tore out of the driveway, driving off in the direction of town.

He considered getting in his truck and following her to find out, but thought better of it. It was still light outside and she would definitely recognize him. He then considered phasing to follow her, but he didn't want the guys who were on patrol to give him hell about "stalking" the girl. They'd already done that after he followed her the first time. Even though everything in him was urging him to follow her, he gave an awkward goodbye to Kate and made his way back to his truck to go home. He would just have to think of some other way to find out what was going on.

0o0

"So how are things going lately?"

Dr. Gwen Johnson was in her early sixties, with a wild mop of fire-engine red hair that reminded Dakota of Animal from the Muppets, and a smile similar to that of a horse. She wore at least three rings on each finger, and had chunky purple glasses that magnified her eyes to the point where she looked like an owl. When Dakota had first visited her office, she hadn't been exactly sure if the woman knew what she was doing; in fact, after getting a glance at the woman's electric blue eyeliner on top of the rest of her getup, she had been tempted to turn on her heel and run right back out the way she came.

As she sat down on the tired loveseat across from her doctor, however, she felt like if anyone in the world had a chance of helping her, it was Dr. Gwen. No matter what she threw the woman's way, huge or petty, she always had a way of helping the troubled girl see straight—even if only for a little while.

"Stressful," Dakota replied, pulling her knees up to her chest. "And confusing. I feel like my head's in a blender and I hate it."

"Have you had any attacks recently?"

"Not since seeing Mom in the hospital, but I've had to take those preemptive meds you gave me a couple times since then."

Dr. Gwen hummed, scribbling something into her notes before smiling at the girl. "And I'm assuming they've worked?"

"They help. I've been trying to go on more walks lately, but Mom's been really weird about me leaving the house."

"Maybe it has something to do with her attack," the woman offered. "I know that if I were in her position, I would be much more wary of letting my young daughter out of my sight."

Dakota gave a small nod, pleased with the explanation. It would've been a simple enough conclusion to reach on her own if she hadn't been in such a daze lately. "Do you remember the guy I talked to you about? Paul Lahote?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course, Dakota. I remember everything we talk about."

"He came to see me today. He was waiting at my house when I got home from school."

"Would you like to tell me what happened?" That was one thing she really loved about Dr. Gwen: she didn't force anything out of her, and always made it a point to let her know that she wouldn't be upset if the girl couldn't talk about something right away.

"I felt… better? I don't know how to explain it. I was super pissed—sorry, I mean angry _—_ with him for being MIA for so long, but after I talked to him for a little bit, it just went away. Almost all of the bad stuff went away. I don't know what to think about it."

The woman gave her a coy smile. "Do you think, possibly, that you may have feelings for him?"

The snort she shot back could've blown down mountains. "Definitely not. He's part of Sam Uley's crowd, and I would never get myself into the same situation Leah did. I couldn't deal with it. I'm wary about even being his _friend,_ much less anything else."

"You know, forming strong bonds with people is a good way to anchor yourself. Now, I'm not telling you to go out and do anything you don't want to do, but maybe another close friend would help."

"You're probably right," she relented, fiddling with the hem of her sweater. "I just… I don't know if I trust him very much. Especially with what Leah said… I don't think he's a bad guy, I just don't know if it's worth the risk. I get too clingy and moody and I take it out on everyone around me—at least Leah's used to it."

"That's part of living with borderline personality disorder, Dakota. I'm sure if you explained your—"

"No!" The volume in her voice surprised the both of them. She continued, quieter. "I don't want to tell him yet. Too many people know already, and who knows how he'll react?"

"You won't know until you tell him," Dr. Gwen said softly. "But once again, I'm not telling you to do anything you don't want to do."

Dakota sat in silence for a few minutes, looking at the fibers on the couch as if they held the answers to all of her problems. Before she had a chance to speak, however, the timer rang signaling the end of their session. As she walked through the parking lot, she realized it was the first time since she'd gone to see Dr. Gwen that she'd left the building more confused and upset than she had been entering it.


	6. Unwelcome Surprises

Paul was desperate. He'd come to terms with the fact as he sat on the front porch of Sam and Emily's home, waiting for her to get back from wherever she'd gone with the full intent of questioning her to the ends of the earth about his imprint.

Of course he had considered asking Leah, although that idea only lasted a few seconds. He then considered Seth or Sue Clearwater, but knew deep down they'd hold onto Dakota's secrets for fear of their most volatile relation's wrath. He'd already tried Kate Moreno to no avail, and he had thought he'd exhausted his options. He had originally planned on simply talking Emily's ear off in hopes of getting some advice, but had figured it was worth a shot to ask the questions he really wanted to know the answers to.

When he heard Sam's pick-up from down the driveway, Paul rose to his feet. Emily came to a slow stop in front of the house, and from where he stood he could see grocery bags in the bed of the truck. Hoping to butter her up, he jogged out and gathered all of the bags on both arms before she had the chance to kill the engine.

"Well, aren't you helpful today?" She joked, following him back up the steps and into the house.

He gave her his most innocent smile. "I figured you might need some help."

"If you really want to be helpful, you could help me cook this mess. Sam asked me to make enough dinner for the entire pack tonight—I'm assuming he's planning on calling a meeting about the conversation you all had with Dakota's mom today. How's Kota doing, by the way?"

It was the perfect opportunity, and he snatched it up. "I'm not sure, Em. She was a little mad at me when she got home, but everything smoothed out until she had to go to some appointment _._ She got really jittery and weird, and I'm worried about her."

"She's your imprint, Paul," she said gently, pulling out several bags of chicken breasts. "It makes sense for you to be a worried about her."

"I just wish I knew what was going on. I want to help, but I can't do anything if she keeps leaving me in the dark like this." Just as he'd hoped, her expression twisted into one of pity. He knew Emily just wanted him to be happy—she'd said it every day since she'd set him up in the guest bedroom to get him away from his dad, and he believed her. It was just a matter of whether or not she pitied him enough to let the cat out of the bag.

"What has she told you?" Emily had moved to the sink, and had begun filling up a huge pot with water.

He gathered the empty plastic bags before he spoke. "She won't talk to me about anything. I'm trying so hard, Em, but it's like talking to a brick wall. She just shuts down or runs off."

The look of pity deepened, and he knew he'd reeled her in. "I don't know the details, Paul. Leah only told me that Dakota's got some... _mental health_ issues."

"What do you mean?" A knot he hadn't noticed in his stomach tightened.

"A couple of years ago, Leah called me and asked if I'd be able to give her a ride to Port Angeles. I didn't think anything of it until we were in the parking lot of some behavioral health place—"

A panicked howl sounded from somewhere in the woods behind the house, one that Paul instantly recognized: _vampire._ Immediately, he sprinted through the house and out of the back door, regretting having to leave in the middle of such an important conversation. He leapt from the back porch and phased before he hit the ground, making a mental note to talk to Emily about it again later.

 _Where is it?_ Paul demanded of the pack members on patrol. From what he could tell, he was sharing a mind with Sam, Jared, and Embry.

Jared showed him as he ran, and Paul's blood ran cold: the tree house. He dug his paws into the dirt, pushing himself to run harder and faster until he could catch the scent of the bloodsucker himself. He'd never run so fast in his life, but then again, he'd never had such a reason to run.

 _He's up in the trees now,_ Embry chimed in. _But he's headed towards the highway. I think he's looking for her._

 _Stick close to him, Embry,_ Sam commanded. _Jared, Paul, catch up with him. If he gets down from there, I don't want any chance of him getting away._

 _There's no way in hell he's getting away from me,_ snarled Paul. _I'm going to rip him into slivers when he stops being such a little bitch and gets where I can reach him._

Within the minute, he and Jared were hot on Embry's heels, weaving through the forest beneath the leech. It was difficult to look up over their heads for the bastard, but the sickly sweet stench that clung to him proved to be enough for them to follow. For the first time since he'd become a shapeshifter, he found himself wishing they turned into giant mountain lions or something so they could just climb up after him. While he was up that high, he was untouchable.

Suddenly, the vampire came to a complete stop in one of the uppermost branches of a pine tree, causing the wolves to trip and fall all over each other in an attempt to stop as well. Once they'd righted themselves, they formed a tight ring around the base of the tree, snarling and growling as fiercely as they could.

Since the chase had slowed to a stop, Paul took the time to look up at the bloodsucker who had caused his imprint and his pack so much grief. Just like Kate had described, he had wavy brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail at the base of his neck, and his thick eyebrows competed with his dark red eyes as the most prominent feature on his somewhat childlike face.

 _He's just a kid,_ Embry said in shock. _He can't be any older than Seth._

 _Who the hell cares?_ Paul demanded as he clawed at the bark around the base of the tree, leaving it covered in crisscrossed slashes.

 _He didn't try to attack me when I found him,_ Jared said. _He just climbed like hell and ran. If he's a newborn, he could've crushed me if he wanted to. It's weird, man._

 _He attacked Kate in cold fucking blood!_ Paul shouted through the pack mind.

 _Paul, you need to be calm if he comes down. You'll be reckless, and you'll put your brothers at risk._ The Alpha's command rolled through his body, and he felt his front paws hit the ground before he had a chance to tell his mind to fight it.

Above them, the vampire was watching worriedly. Slowly, at least for his kind, he began to make his way down the tree towards them. Their growls echoed through the forest, and it was obvious he was terrified. He was still a solid fifty feet above the ground when he stopped, taking a seat on one of the lower branches and pulling his feet up to rest on the limb as well.

"Please," he called down, taking them by surprise. "Please, you have to help me. I'm looking for my friend. I have to talk to her."

Paul snarled viciously. He distinctly remembered Dakota mentioning that she didn't have anyone but Leah, and even though it had hurt his heart then, he was incredibly grateful to have the memory to play back for the pack. They paced the tree back and forth after watching it, waiting for Sam to make a call.

 _Embry, go find Seth,_ he finally commanded. _Go with him to the Cullen's, and get whoever you can to come back here. We need their help._

Although it was the Alpha's command, Paul growled in disapproval. Embry turned and took off in the direction of the Clearwater home, and they all continued to pace the tree trunk. Only Paul's growls continued as ferociously as before—the rest of them were too much of an odd mixture of worried and curious to hold onto their gumption.

"Is he going to get her?" The bloodsucker asked hopefully, gesturing where Embry had run off. Sam snarled loudly, and above them, the monster shrunk back. "I guess that's a no… Are you going to kill me?"

That elicited a mixed reaction from the pack. Although they all made various noises of anger, it was obvious that Paul was the only one who still wanted to simply tear him to pieces. The confusion below him seemed to ease a bit of the vampire's worry, and he let his feet fall back to dangle above their heads.

"Should I just… wait, then?" Even through his anger, Paul realized what Jared had been talking about. It was hard to believe that the mouse of a bloodsucker above them was the same one who'd roughed up his imprint's mother a few weeks before.

Still, he clung to his protector instincts and reminded himself that the kid—no, _the leech_ —sitting above them was the same one on the hunt for his imprint. He used that fiery emotion to keep himself on guard, and hoped that it would rub off on the rest of the pack. They had a bit of waiting to do before any of the Cullens showed up, and he didn't want anyone to forget what they had to do if the bastard was stupid enough to get within their reach. At the end of the day, they were designed to kill his kind and expected to protect their own: no amount of curiosity could stand in the way of that.

0o0

Walking into work after her appointment, Dakota wanted nothing more than to throw her apron in Marnie's face and speed back home to hide in bed. Still, she took her seat behind the counter and did her best to get comfortable, waiting for someone to come in and force her to be sociable. Everything she'd talked about with Dr. Gwen was replaying itself in her head in a twisted sort of self-torturous loop, and she began to feel as if maybe telling Paul about everything would make her life a little easier.

After thinking about how long he'd been gone after seeing one of her more justified episodes, however, she shut that option down immediately. If he was scared of her being upset about something that _anyone_ would be bothered by, how in the world would he handle her more unreasonable outbreaks of emotion?

How would she be able to tell him that in order for her to function like a somewhat normal human being, she had to take a plethora of pills morning, noon, and night, and even then that didn't always work? There was no way to tell him without running him off, so she decided to keep doing what she was doing—holding the cap down on the can of worms as long as possible, and worrying about dealing with the explosion when the time came.

Dakota pulled her camera out of her bag, turning it on and scrolling through her recent pictures until she found what she was looking for: Paul walking into Rosie's, a giant grin on his annoyingly handsome face. Paul, his face pleading with the camera as the sun rose above the treetops behind him. Paul, his eyes closed in thought. Paul, pouting in a way expected of a child rather than a grown man. Paul, Paul, Paul.

She was beginning to wonder if Dr. Gwen had been right about her having some sort of feelings for the guy—in all honesty, what else could explain how relieved she felt when she saw him? When she was near him, she felt like so many of the walls she'd built up around herself were made of glass; it was like he could shatter them without a second thought, but was leaving them be out of respect for her.

After seeing firsthand the type of women he involved himself with, she knew she didn't want to end up as just another notch in his belt. That, in addition to the fact that her possible feelings could ultimately just screw everything up rather than improve the situation, caused her to swat the idea away as if it were nothing more than a pesky mosquito—impossible to avoid forever, but easy enough to squash for the moment.

If she was being honest with herself, money still needed to be her primary focus until her mother was able to return to work. Not school, not Paul, not her pathetic little life. She turned the camera off and shoved it back in her bag, swearing not to take it out again to stare at those shots; she promised herself she wouldn't think of how he always tried to be closer to her, or how he was always trying to have some sort of physical contact with her—instead, she sat and waited for business to pick up.

An hour passed, then two, and before she knew it the clock had zoomed to near nine o'clock. There hadn't been a single customer in the store for her entire shift, and even though she'd been bored enough to actually take inventory (as if anyone had actually _bought_ anything), she'd used the time to think her way through her issue as best as she possibly could.

"Marnie, I'm out of here!" Dakota called towards the back room. "See you later!"

"Bye, honey! Be safe!" Her boss might not have been the best at actually working, but she was a decent woman.

From the conversations the two had shared about topics other than inventory and bathroom maintenance, Dakota had learned that she was forty years old and had been divorced for five years. Since then, the poor woman had put on a solid eighty pounds and hardly left her house if she wasn't going to work. To her, Marnie was another perfect example of what love gone bad could do to a woman, and she tried her best to learn the lesson vicariously rather than firsthand.

As the bell on the door tinkled its familiar farewell, she made her way to her mom's little sedan with a new sense of purpose. Maybe she had some sort of feelings for Paul, and maybe it was just her mind trying to convince her that she was actually important to someone; either way, she refused to let it commandeer her life.

Regardless of how much she hated herself, she knew she was worth more than letting some guy come into her life and throw everything upside down: especially one who was notorious for doing just that. She wouldn't let herself end up like Leah did—she wasn't strong enough to pull herself out of it like the older girl had, and she knew it.

The best way to avoid falling into the hole was to walk around it altogether, and that's what she promised herself she would do. She could still hang out with him because that was what friends did, but she decided to shut down all future advances that crossed that line: anything physical, flirty, or too emotionally revealing would be nipped in the bud. That way, there would be no worry about her sending the wrong signals, and he could either take what she was offering or leave it to move onto the next one: friendship or zilch.

It was a simple plan, but Dakota felt confident as she drove home, oblivious to the warzone that had been built in her honor just a few miles away.

0o0

It had been hours. The rogue bloodsucker had been in the Cullen's house for _hours_ , and still no one had come outside with news. When Carlisle and Jasper had showed up at the tree where he had been camping out, they convinced him to come back to their home to "talk about things". Even in wolf form, Paul managed to convey a snort at that.

With the mind-reading leech still on honeymoon for a few more days, the situation was much more complicated than it would have been if he'd been home. It was difficult to know the bastard's true intentions without someone there that could poke and prod through his thoughts.

A majority of the pack paced the woods surrounding the Cullen's property, but Leah and Seth had insisted upon going inside to listen in. Of course, Sam wasn't a fan of that idea to begin with. It took some of Leah's harsh logic to remind him that if someone didn't go in there, "those veggie vamp fucks could tell us whatever they wanted, and we'd have to believe them".

He'd relented, seeing as Leah was the closest to Dakota and could call the rogue vampire out on any lies he might try to sell them, and sent Seth with her as a peacekeeping agent between the two factions. It wasn't a rock solid plan, but it was better than being left in the dark.

From where he stood amidst the trees, Paul could see the group of them speaking in the dining room. He was too far away to hear anything, but Sam had warned them all against going too close for fear of interrupting such an important conversation. Things were tense between the two groups with Bella's inevitable transformation on the horizon threatening to break the treaty, but it was no secret that the pack needed the help of their sworn enemies. Without them around, Sam wouldn't have deemed it safe enough for anyone to phase out in front of the stranger.

Slowly, Paul lowered himself into the underbrush. He desperately wanted to go see Dakota, wanted to hear her voice and see for himself that she was fine, but he knew what he had to do. With patience he didn't think himself capable of, he waited in silence for news that he was sure could not be good.

 _Jesus, man,_ Jared said in annoyance, coming to lie near his friend. _The more you sit there and brood about it, the worse we all feel._

 _Shut up,_ he fired back halfheartedly. After a beat, he admitted, _I'm just nervous, is all. I finally imprint, and this shit happens? Really?_

 _It does suck,_ Jared agreed. _But really, there's nothing to be done about it yet. I honestly don't think the kid wanted to hurt anyone—'cause if he did, Dakota's mom definitely wouldn't be alive right now._

 _I just want to know what the hell he wants with her. She's never mentioned anyone but Leah, and then some random fucking_ vampire _shows up demanding to know where she's at? I'm freaking the hell out._

 _Dude, I'm gonna ask you a serious question, but don't blow up on me: do you think you'd be fuming like this if he was a she?_

The question was innocent enough, but it fed the fiery green envy Paul had been trying his best to hide from the others. _Honestly? I'd still be freaking out, but the fact that he's a guy makes it even worse. I don't know. I just want him gone—I just want Kota safe._

 _Don't we all? I get that she's your imprint, but you know that ties her to us, too, right? Not in the same way, of course, but still—she's important to you, which makes her important to the pack as a whole._

Knowing that he wasn't alone in his worries, even if his were the worst, calmed Paul. He considered Jared his best friend, and it was nice to have someone to lean on who could honestly understand his situation. When Jared had first imprinted on Kim, Paul had felt like he'd been robbed. After finding his own imprint, however, he understood everything; his friends were still incredibly important, but nothing could compare to the lengths he would go to in order to keep Dakota safe and happy. It was comforting to know that Jared understood what he was going through, or at least could imagine it, and would stand beside him through it.

Embarrassingly mushy or not, he let Jared in on his thoughts as an act of gratitude, doing his best to thank him for being such a good friend without having to actually having to talk about it outside of the pack mind. The others who had phased in politely averted their thoughts to let the two share their moment. It wasn't often that Paul showed any kind of genuine emotion (other than anger) to his brothers, and they didn't want to be the ones to ruin it.

From the house, there came a loud bang. Instantly, all the wolves were on their toes, ready to charge into battle. Leah came stomping out of the front door, which she must've swung open with enough ferocity to make the noise, and Seth tailed closely behind. She strode towards the woods quickly, the scowl on her face obvious even from their distance. Seth just looked nervous, like someone was threatening to tell his mom about his failing English grade or something of the like.

"Those _motherfuckers,"_ she exclaimed as she approached them. "Are giving that _son of a bitch_ asylum. They're seriously giving him fucking _asylum."_

Sam began to pace the edge of the forest, the fur along his spine bristling. Paul couldn't believe what he was hearing, and howled his despair at the top of his lungs. Soon, the others joined him—the offer of refuge meant that any attack on the once-rogue bloodsucker would be considered a violation of the treaty on their part. It could mean all out war between the two factions.

 _Go back to the rez,_ Sam commanded, gesturing to the Clearwaters that they should phase as well. _We've got to come up with a plan. This isn't over._


	7. Quick Fixes

When Dakota woke up the next morning for school, something felt off. There was a nameless feeling settled deep in her chest, and it made her reconsider getting out of bed. Instead of dwelling on it, however, she pushed it to the back of her mind and willed herself to get out from under her covers and face the day like she knew she needed to.

Once she'd stepped out of her room, however, she paused. Her mom was not only awake at that ungodly hour, but from what Dakota could hear, she was talking with someone downstairs. _Did mom have someone over last night?_ The thought of her mom finally moving on from her sleazebag father was exciting. There was a moment where she genuinely considered sitting on the steps to eavesdrop and find out for sure, but she shook the idea from her head; her mother always respected her privacy, and the least she could do was return the favor.

Instead, she continued on to the bathroom to get herself together for the day. She gave herself a quick inspection in the mirror and decided her shower the night before had her clean enough, so she just quickly brushed her teeth and put on some deodorant. In all honesty, it was for the best; she didn't want to have to make the awkward beeline to her room in just a towel when her mom had a guest downstairs.

The feeling of unease that had settled over her morning began to dissipate, and for the first time since she could remember, she was excited to get ready for the day. If her mother really had someone downstairs that she'd deemed worthy of meeting Dakota, she wanted to return the courtesy and actually look decent for the introduction.

After digging through her closet for what felt like years, she resurfaced with something she hadn't even considered wearing when her mom had bought it—a glorified grey t-shirt that just happened to fall down her legs long enough to be considered a dress. As she yanked it over her head and pulled a dark blue cardigan on after it, she couldn't help but feel like she was making progress. That's what normal teenagers did before school, right? Tried to look nice?

In fact, she was so inspired by the almost frightening wave of effort she was putting forth to meet her mom's mystery man, she even stopped in front of her mirror long enough to put concealer over her dark circles and mascara on her pale eyelashes. It was the most effort she'd put into her appearance in months, and even though it wasn't much by typical standards, she felt good. Powerful, even.

As she slipped on her ratty canvas tennis shoes and made her way downstairs, Dakota decided that she was going to do this more often; if something as simple as changing her monotonous morning routine was enough to make her feel so _normal,_ she could deal with the slight increase in effort.

When she reached the entryway to the kitchen, however, she felt like turning right around and going back to her usual combination of ratty jeans and hoodies. Instead of the middle-aged man with a slightly receding hairline that she'd conjured in her mind, she saw Paul Lahote leaning up against the counter and staring at her just like he had the first night she'd met him.

"What are you doing here?" She finally managed to ask, her eyebrows practically touching her hairline.

"Dakota, that is no way to speak to a guest," chided her mother lightly, pouring the girl a cup of coffee. "And if you must know, I _invited_ him here."

"At the ass crack of dawn?" Although her words were phrased as a question, her mouth made them sound more like a simple statement. Paul snickered where he stood, but quickly quieted when her mom shot him a dirty look.

"Well, I figured with how hard you've been working at school and the store, you deserved a day off!" Her mom was smiling widely, as if she hadn't just suggested the downfall of everything her daughter had been working so hard to hold together.

"If I miss school, Marnie won't let me come in, you know," Dakota protested, begrudgingly taking the mug her mother handed her and sipping it. "We need those hours, Mom."

The woman took her daughter in a tight hug. "I know how hard this has all been on you, Kotabear, but I go back to work next week. I've got some savings for the meantime, and you really do deserve a day off. Play hookie, be a kid while you still can, all of that good stuff!"

"Mom…" She wanted to fight back, really she did. It was just hard to do when she actually thought about the proposition. It was a Friday, which meant skipping school would give her a three-day weekend, and in all honesty, she hated her job to the ends of the earth. What could one little day really hurt, especially if her mom was so confident about it?

"You know you want to," Paul chimed in, his dazed expression replaced with one of mischief. "Plus, I actually have some stuff planned, if you're up for an adventure."

"C'mon, honey," her mother coaxed, releasing her from the embrace and holding her at arm's length. "It's just one day."

After a moment's pause and a grand sigh, Dakota gave in with a nod. Her mother grinned in relief, and behind them Paul gave a small whoop of victory. She hid her own smile in her mug, taking another sip to avoid showing them how happy she actually was about not having to deal with school or work for a day.

"I'll call the school to tell them you're not coming in," the woman said, shooing Paul out of her way so she could get to the phone. "You two go on ahead, though! I don't want to hold you up!"

Paul took the hint and made his way across the kitchen to lead Dakota out of the house. As he made a move to sling his arm around her shoulders, however, she remembered what she'd promised herself the night before and busied herself with hunting down her camera bag and her pack of smokes. She didn't look back towards him as he waited at the front door, but she could feel him watching her every move.

"So what's on the agenda today?" She asked casually, hoping he hadn't planned something that would interfere with her resolve.

"You'll find out soon enough," he said with an obvious smile in his voice. "But in the meantime, just go with the flow."

"You really enjoy mocking me, don't you?" She slung her bag over her shoulder and snatched her cigarettes off of the coffee table in the living room.

"You should be honored! I'm taking pages out of your book, Little Bit."

She whipped around to face him. "What the hell did you just call me?"

The smirk that graced his face should've been illegal. "Your brand new nickname, Little Bit. C'mon, let's go."

0o0

The only way to properly protect Dakota was to keep her on the reservation. Although that would be impossible to pull off forever, Paul figured he could manage to trick her into staying the weekend while they tried to figure out their precarious situation. Leah had already gotten approval from Sue for her to stay with them in the evenings, and Kate had made it a point to leave a message at the store for her daughter's boss to let her know the girl wouldn't be back until Monday. Now, all he had to do was convince his imprint to go along with it.

After the night they'd had, no one in the pack had been able to come up with a better plan of action than what Paul had suggested: keep her on their side of the treaty line, and get Leah to try and talk to her about the guy who'd thrown their world into chaos. At that point, all they knew was that the bloodsucker's name was Nate, and that he'd met Dakota a few years beforehand. Neither of the Clearwaters mentioned how, or where, but Paul was too focused on keeping Kota out of harm's way to care. He didn't give a shit how many times the bastard promised the Cullens he'd follow in their footsteps; his red eyes had told the shapeshifter all he needed to know.

"So, where are you taking me? Please keep in mind that I'm not wearing pants."

He glanced at her sitting in the passenger seat, her bag covering the entirety of her lap. When she'd walked into the kitchen, Paul had found himself at a loss for words. She hadn't gone to the nines or anything, but the shock of seeing her dressed in something that _didn't_ swallow her whole had been debilitating. His pride wanted him to believe that she'd dressed up because he was downstairs waiting, but her reaction at his presence had been enough to knock that out of the water immediately.

"Don't stress yourself about that," he assured her, returning his attention to the road. "But you're probably gonna hate me for the first part of the day, so go ahead and do your worst so I can make you eat your words later."

She eyed him warily. "Why am I going to hate you?"

"We're having breakfast at Emily's, but everyone's gonna be there. I wanted you to meet them all."

"Oh, fuckin' hell," the girl groaned, flopping her head back violently on the seat. "It's _way_ too early for Emily Young, Paul."

"But you've never had one of her breakfasts," he countered. "Besides, it's too late to cancel now. You're already in my truck, on the way there."

"Don't remind me." She grumbled reaching forward to fiddle with the radio. Suddenly, her eyes lit up and she turned to him with an unexpected enthusiasm. "Did you listen to the EP I gave you?"

Paul shrunk a little in his seat. "I didn't get the chance to, but I was hoping you'd listen to it with me. That way, you can tell me your favorites so I'll pay extra special attention to them."

It was a pitiful excuse and he knew it, but he'd hoped that buttering her up a little bit would soften her response. Thankfully, it worked. "You get a C on your homework, Lahote: only because you wanted to check your answers with me first. Otherwise, I'd fail you."

He didn't have to look at her to know she was smiling, and the thought made his stomach flop. Despite the fact that she pretty much spent the entirety of each time they were together picking on him, he could tell she was beginning to enjoy his company. It might not have been to the degree that he enjoyed hers, but he let himself get a bit excited about it.

"How long do we have until we arrive at the gates of hell?" She asked, looking through the pile of her CDs between them.

"About twenty minutes, give or take."

She took out the disc she'd told him to listen to first, _The New Age,_ and slipped it into the radio. The first track started up, but she skipped it after explaining that it held to practically no relevance to the rest of the music. The second one started out strong with a fast paced guitar-tapped melody, and she settled herself back into the seat for the ride.

0o0

Once they'd arrived at Emily's house, Paul sat in the front seat, shocked at how much he genuinely liked the music she'd shown him. Many of the lyrics resonated deeply with him, and he made a mental note to burn a copy of the CD whenever he got the chance.

"Before we go inside, I need a cigarette. If I'm going to be even remotely decent, I can't be biting at the bit for a smoke." Dakota unbuckled her seatbelt and had already swung her door open before he'd gotten the chance to get out and open it for her.

"I'm gonna get you to stop that one of these days," he promised, trying not to gag when she lit the disgusting thing. If he'd thought they were bad before he'd first phased, it had nothing on his new hatred for them; not only did they smell a million times worse with his heightened senses, but the fact that his imprint smoked made him sick on his stomach, too. _Cancer, cancer, cancer_ played on a loop in his head whenever she pulled one out, and it was hell.

"Good luck with that," she snorted. "Let me know when you come up with your magic cure."

Before he had a chance to fire back at her, his least favorite Clearwater came out of the front door in a flurry of grumbles. She made her way towards her best friend, whose face lit up immediately, and crossed her arms with a huff.

"The booger is here," she said to Paul, jerking her head back towards the house. "And she just took a massive shit. I can't be in there, it's making me sick."

Paul couldn't help but laugh—Quil's little imprint, Claire, was only around two years old, and was just getting the hang of potty training. With all the time the little girl had begun to spend at Emily's, he knew exactly what Leah was talking about. Despite her size, the child could really clear a room.

"Who shit?" Dakota chimed in, flicking her ash away from her friend's feet.

"Emily's niece. She's a cute little thing, but her dumps rival Seth's."

Beside him, her eyes widened in horror. "Oh my god, no," she turned to him immediately. "Please don't make me go in there. I'm so bad with kids, I never know what to do, they make me so nervous and ohmygodpleaseno."

Again, he boomed with laughter, reaching out and ruffling her hair slightly. Over her shoulder, he saw Leah roll her eyes dramatically, but decided to ignore it. "Don't worry, Quil will keep her so entertained you won't have to worry about it."

With a huff, Dakota fixed the portion of hair he'd misplaced. "For your sake, you'd better hope you're right."

He just grinned lazily at her, to which she rolled her eyes as well. "So," she turned back to Leah. "How come we've been friends for years, but the first time I meet all of these people is because Paul dragged me out here?"

The older girl pulled her face into a very serious expression and said, "Because I value our friendship enough not to force you into the pits of hell."

There was a split second where neither shapeshifter knew how the girl would react, but thankfully, she just laughed. "Well, I'm here now, so I guess your efforts to save my soul were in vain."

"It's not _that_ bad," Paul defended, stepping out of the car and making his way to the passenger side. "C'mon, you're almost done with that. Let's go get some food."

"I feel like that's all you think about." Dakota ground her cigarette butt into the ground and tucked it into the side of her shoe, not wanting to just toss her trash in someone's yard (even _if_ she couldn't stand them).

As the three of them made their way into the house, Paul heard Leah mutter something along the lines of "That's not _quite_ all" under her breath, but chose to ignore it. As he held the door open for the two of them, he couldn't stop himself from smiling at his imprint. Despite the circumstance under which she was there, he was so very excited to introduce her to the rest of the pack. He had a good feeling they would like her, and he desperately hoped she'd like them, too.

"Dakota!" Emily called happily from the kitchen, flipping a pancake before making her way over to take the girl into a bone crushing hug. "I'm so happy you're here! You look so nice!"

Although he couldn't see Dakota's face, he just knew she was rolling her eyes. "Yeah, well, I heard my mom downstairs talking to someone that I'd _hoped_ was her secret boyfriend. Turns out it was just Paul."

"Wow, that's harsh," he said to her back, crossing his arms over his chest. "For your information, ' _just Paul'_ got you a freebie day, Little Bit."

With her back still turned, she reached to fix her hair and flipped him off behind her head where Emily couldn't see. A roar of laughter came from the dining room, and Paul tore his eyes from the girl long enough to realize that was where the rest of the pack was waiting for breakfast. Surprisingly enough, Sam had pulled everyone in from patrol to meet Dakota. The younger guys had been allowed to skip the day, too, and Jacob had recently returned from his ridiculously overdone mopefest that had introduced them in the first place. Even though it was really so they could all get familiar with her scent, Paul still felt honored that his imprint had been given such a welcome.

"What're you all laughing so hard about?" Emily narrowed her eyes at them, and they quickly quieted. When she finally released the girl from her death-grip of a hug, Paul took the opportunity to steal Dakota's attention once more in order to introduce her to everyone.

"Kota, these are the guys. Guys, this is Kota."

Instantly, they hopped up from the table and made their way towards her, giving their names and various embarrassing bits of information about him as they went.

"I'm Jared, Paul's best friend. It's so nice to finally meet you! Since you're all he can talk about anymore, I feel like I already know you."

"Quil," he shook her hand with his free one, Claire on one hip. "When we were in elementary school, Paul wet himself in the middle of class on three different occasions."

"And I'm Embry," he pulled her in for a quick hug and whispered, "He had a massive crush on my mom up until a couple years ago, run for your life."

Although Paul was glad to see her tense away from his touch, it still annoyed him when she laughed loudly at Embry's comment. He'd grown out of his crush on Ms. Call when he was twelve, for christ's sake.

"I'm Brady—"

"And I'm Collin," the two boys stood in front of the girl nervously, having noticed Paul's growing agitation. "We're glad you decided to come."

Jacob gave a muffled introduction, still completely put out with the Bella situation, much to everyone's chagrin. Sam gave her a small wave, and from the back of the room, Leah rolled her eyes grandly.

"Well, um," Dakota stammered. "Hi? I didn't realize Paul had so many friends."

"You're shocked he can _keep_ friends, you mean," Embry joked, grinning widely. He had a reputation for ruffling the feathers of the imprinted members of the pack, making a point to always joke a little too closely with the objects of their affections. It was really only so they'd be more appreciative of their respective ladies, for Paul had seen his true intentions before when they'd been on patrol together, but being the victim of it was a lot more annoying than the other guys had made it seem.

"Embry, hush," Emily chided, several plates on her arm and a bottle of maple syrup in her other hand. "Don't annoy the poor girl; she might not come back to see us!"

Dakota stepped out of her way as awkwardly as humanly possible, bumping right into Paul in the process. Seeing an opportunity, he rested his arm around her shoulders, ignoring the dirty look Leah was shooting him from across the room. Being able to actually touch her, even if it was something so innocent, was practically euphoric for him.

"Dakota, would you help her out really quick?" Leah asked a bit loudly. She nodded after a half second pause and slipped out from under his arm, following Emily into the kitchen wordlessly. He watched her curiously as she went, but was yanked from his own thoughts when Leah cleared her throat.

"Don't touch her unless she asks you to," she whispered so quietly that only the wolves could hear. "It freaks her out."

The guys had the decency to muffle their sniggers at his dejected face, but Paul still felt his cheeks go hot. He had realized Dakota wasn't exactly the touchy-feely type, of course, but he had hoped that her side of the imprint would warm up to it. Leah's words popped that idea like a cheap balloon, and he found himself wondering what he'd done that could possibly scare her.

Sensing his self doubt, Seth whispered, "She's always been a little odd about it, dude. It's not personal."

That eased his worry a bit, but still posed a problem for his plans after breakfast. She quite literally _had_ to be close to him for those to pan out. He didn't have much time to worry himself over it, though, because soon she came back into the dining room, following Emily's lead with both arms covered in plates.

He rushed over to help her, which she gratefully allowed. There was only so much surface area on her arms for the damned things, and he wondered if Emily had purposefully overloaded her in hopes of letting him save the day. It seemed like something she would do.

"Before you all get started, let those of us who _can't_ eat our own weight actually get some food," Emily demanded once everything had been set out before them.

Dakota seemed shocked at what the woman said, but quickly made herself a small plate anyway, worrying Paul to the ends of the earth. He distinctly knew how much more he was required to eat because of his metabolism, but he still remembered how much he ate when he was normal—Dakota wasn't even remotely close to that.

"You should get a little more than that while you still can," he said gently, remembering not to touch her. "I don't want you to pass out on me later."

She waved a hand at him, reminding him distinctly of Kate. "I'll be fine, I promise. I'm just not a morning eater, is all."

He wanted to argue his point a little more, but the look on Leah's face stopped him. She knew more than she was telling, yes, but for the time being he was just grateful she was willing to give him cues as to what was and wasn't okay.

After Emily had piled her own plate to her liking, she gestured for the rest of them to dig in. There was a frenzy of who could get a hold on what first, but Paul busied himself with pulling out a chair for Dakota beside his usual spot. Leah came from behind the rest of them and plopped on her opposite side, making it a little easier for the younger girl to take the seat she'd been offered.

Once everyone had scavenged the food on the table, Emily began to chatter at Dakota in an attempt to get the girl to talk. Leah snorted quietly under her breath, but Paul was excited when the girl beside him actually participated in the conversation.

"I honestly don't know what I want to do after high school," she vaguely answered one of Emily's unending questions. "I just don't want to be disappointed with my life when I'm like, eighty. I'm going to do something _,_ I just don't really know what yet."

"Leah, Paul, _and_ Seth have all mentioned how good you are with a camera," Jared cut in, trying to actually get to know his friend's imprint. "Have you thought of doing something with that?"

The conversation had finally moved to something she was genuinely interested in, and Paul saw her face light up. The small twinge of jealousy at Jared for causing it only lasted a fraction of a second, though, for her answer took them all off guard. "I actually considered doing something on the wolves around La Push, believe it or not. Apparently, they're supposed to be huge—like, constituting-the-discovery-of-an-entirely-new-species huge."

He desperately hoped she didn't notice the looks the others around the table gave each other before Jared replied, "Really? I've seen them, but I don't think it's a new species or anything. Probably just something in the water."

"Well, after I do some digging, I'll let you know what I find," she challenged, a smirk on her face. Leah shifted awkwardly and Emily once again commandeered the conversation, dragging it off onto an even more uncomfortable topic when she brought up prom.

Dakota choked on her last bite of pancake, causing Paul to break the no-touching rule long enough to pat her on the back. When she'd regained control of her breathing, she nodded gratefully at him. "Unless Leah agrees to put on a dress and go with me, I'm probably going to work prom night."

Of course, Leah scoffed. "I love you to bits, Kota, but hell no. Could you imagine me in sequins? Jesus Christ."

"Yes, I can," Dakota challenged, smirking evilly at her best friend. "And I think you'd look like a cheap prostitute, which would be the entire point of you going with me to prom: making everyone's conservative little heads spin at the sight of provocatively dressed 'lesbians'."

The guys around the table couldn't stop themselves from laughing at her description, Paul competing with Embry for the loudest one. For the first time in since he'd met her, he was infinitely glad that Leah was around. If it weren't for her, he was sure that Dakota wouldn't be so comfortable in a room full of strangers.

"I think I've got some pictures of Paul's senior prom somewhere around here," Emily announced, standing up to gather all of the empty plates she could since everyone had finished so quickly. "I'll have to hunt them down for you!"

"In that case," Paul immediately stood. "We've gotta get going! See you guys later!"

The blonde girl looked up at him in confusion, but followed his lead anyway. "It was nice to meet all of you," she said genuinely, her small smile only faltering when she waved goodbye to Sam. "And Emily, if you find those pictures before I get a chance to come back, send them off with Leah so he can't destroy them."

Paul was surprised that she'd mentioned coming back without him having to coerce her. From Emily's expression, she was as well, but the woman quickly reigned in her look of shock and traded it for one of excitement. "Of course! You'll have to come back soon, though, or else he might have a chance to find them before I do!"

"I know better than to mess with your photo albums, Em," he began to usher his imprint out of the house as quickly as he could without looking inherently rude. "But really, we've gotta head out! See you guys later!"

Once the pack members inside had finished calling out their goodbyes, Paul closed the door softly behind them. Dakota was already making her way towards the truck, obviously as ready to get out of there as he was. In fact, she'd already buckled herself in the passenger seat by the time he'd made it off of the steps.

"Someone's eager to go," he teased as he climbed in himself, raising his eyebrows at her. "What lit such a fire under your ass?"

"I would ask you the same thing, but I'm just too grateful to be out of there. She's a nice woman, I just… It's difficult for me to be around them. I can only imagine how bad it has to be on Leah."

"It's pretty awkward at times," Paul said, shifting gears and backing out of the driveway. "But we've all gotten used to it by now. It'll come with time."

"It's hard to hate Emily," she admitted, digging through her bag—for another death stick, he assumed. "But Sam's a different story. I hope you know that you're the only reason I try to be polite to him."

His heart leapt into his throat at her words, but he didn't want to make her feel any more uncomfortable than she obviously already was. "Well, I appreciate it, Little Bit."

Thankfully, that broke the odd tension between them. "If you don't stop calling me that, I'm going to drown you."

"You're too little to drown me, _Little Bit._ "

"Now listen here you son of a—"


	8. Opening Up

"You definitely should've told me to change while I still had the chance," Dakota grumbled, following Paul down the relatively clear path.

He just laughed, his back still turned to her. After breakfast, they'd driven out to a part of the reservation that she'd never seen, but it looked like some sort of hiking trail. For the millionth time in merely two hours, she found herself regretting her outfit choice.

"Why would I do that? I finally got you to go out with me, so wouldn't it make sense for you to dress up a little? Besides, we're just going for a walk. There's no real hiking involved."

"Firstly, this isn't me 'going out' with you, Lahote. Secondly, the moment I began to sweat is the moment it became a hike."

"You skipped school to hang out with me all day," he declared. "I'm pretty sure this is you going out with me."

"You're delusional," Dakota fired back, doing her best to catch up. "And walking way too fast, might I add."

"Do you need a lift?" He finally stopped and turned to her, a smug smile on his stupidly attractive face. She wanted to punch him in the forehead.

"I'm grown," she exclaimed, folding her arms across her chest. "I can walk by myself. You just need to slow down—not all of us are eight feet tall."

"I'm nowhere near eight foot, Kota."

"You're still a giant," she huffed, stomping past him with as much emphasis as she could muster. "It's definit—what the hell are you doing, Paul?"

Behind her, Paul had lowered himself to a crouching position, and was looking at her expectantly. "Well, if it's too much for you to keep up with me, just hop on," he suggested. "If we walk at your pace, we'll be out here all day and still won't get where I'm taking you."

"If you honestly think that I'm—"

"Kota, c'mon. This way you don't have to get all sweaty and I don't have to wait for your slow ass to catch up."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You've lost your damn mind."

"Probably," he shrugged. "But you know it's a win-win situation."

Part of her wanted to tell him off, to turn on her heel and keep charging into the foreign forest; but, irritatingly enough, a larger part of her wanted to take him up on his offer. She was beginning to tire, quickly at that, and she hadn't gotten a piggyback ride in years. The only problem she was encountering was the mixed signals she would be sending; well that, and the fact that she wasn't wearing pants.

"I'm wearing a dress!" She protested, her voice lacking resolve.

"And I'm in shorts and a t-shirt. I'm glad we had another wardrobe conversation, but can we get going now?"

Dakota chewed her lip in thought. Her legs were already beginning to ache, and they hadn't even been walking for half an hour. Of course, Paul's charming smile and easy, joking tone was swaying her opinion on the situation, and she found herself hoisting her bag higher up on her shoulder as she approached him.

"I'm only giving in because I'm lazy," she finally declared, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "And this doesn't mean I'm 'going out' with you, either. Don't go getting any ideas."

As if she weighed nothing, he stood abruptly, locking his arms behind her knees and taking off in the direction they'd already been heading. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Little Bit. I'm glad you finally decided to pull your head out of your ass."

"I could _Reservoir Dogs_ the absolute shit out of your ear right now," she threatened, willing herself to ignore his comforting warmth. "I suggest you walk, not talk."

They bantered on like this for almost an hour as Paul carried them both through the woods. The longer they walked, the more relaxed Dakota became. There was just something damn near intoxicating about being so close to him, and she even allowed herself to relax enough to rest her chin on his shoulder.

Although she'd spent so many years hanging out with Leah on the reservation, she'd never been to that area before. It was so deep into the little community that there hadn't been any road signs for the last little bit of their drive, and she found herself wondering what in the world could possibly be out there that he deemed so exciting.

She was actually about to voice her question when she began to hear seagulls cawing, and the smell of the salt water hit her nose. Excitedly, she perked up from her resting spot and began to look around, smiling widely when she could see bits of the ocean through the trees. There was something about the La Push beaches that had always cheered her up, and the thought of visiting one she'd never seen caused a huge grin to break out on her face.

"Where are we?" She asked him, still taking in their surroundings. The trees were beginning to get smaller and sparser, and the dirt and leaves beneath Paul's feet began to mix with sand.

"I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." He deadpanned, hoisting her a little higher up on his back.

"I thought you said you'd never hurt me, you fuck," she flicked his ear, causing him to shoot a dirty look her way over his shoulder. "Besides, what if I want to come back? How will I ever find it if I don't know what it's called?"

"You can call me and let me know you want to have another date out here," he said simply. "Plus, it doesn't really have a name. It's really small, but I think you'll like it."

"This isn't a date. This is _definitely_ not a date. This is a friendly outing."

"And I'm a fairy princess."

"Damn straight."

0o0

Much to his own displeasure, Paul didn't say the 'd'-word again for the entire day. Instead, he just followed her around as she explored the little tide pools, telling her everything he knew about what she found. Her company in itself was enough to quiet his inner wolf, which had been right beneath the surface trying to hurry things along.

With each new discovery came a flurry of pictures, both of the sea creatures and himself, and he felt incredibly relieved that he'd decided to bring her there. It hadn't exactly been easy, but it was definitely worth seeing her face light up at each new discovery and actually being able to spend some time alone with her.

"Look at these little whelks!" She exclaimed, pulling him from his thoughts. "How did you ever manage to find this place? It's beautiful!"

He smiled at her, not even surprised when she lifted her camera and snapped a quick photo. "My dad brought me when we first moved here, after my mom left. I haven't been back since, but I figured if anyone would make it easier, it was you."

A little wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows, and he actually felt nervous as she searched his face. "I would say that I'm sorry, but I know from experience that it's more annoying than it is comforting."

"What do you mean?"

She turned back to the tide pool, her camera under one arm as she gently pet a little starfish. "That's why my mom moved us to Forks, too. My dad got another woman pregnant, and left us for them. He's got a whole new family out in Oakville. When I first moved here, people would always tell me how sorry they were for me. It just pissed me off. I didn't lose anything worth having—if anything, I got lucky that he left as soon as he did. Leah was the first person to say it was his loss, not ours."

Paul lowered himself into the sand beside her, shocked at her confession. He'd definitely wanted her to open up more, but he didn't want her to be upset, either. It was a double-edged sword, for sure. "That's why you were so excited when you thought your mom had someone downstairs this morning."

"Yup," she popped the 'p'. "I just want her to be happy, and I feel like moving on from my piece of shit dad would definitely help."

"Do you think, maybe, she _has_ moved on? I mean, you don't have to be with someone else to prove that you're done with your past." But god, how he wanted to be.

"It's possible, I guess. I'm just worried that she's not single by choice—that she's been forced into this life of solitude because of me, or something."

He so desperately wanted to hold her, to reassure her that nothing was her fault and tell her how very important she was. Instead, he settled for scooting a bit closer to her and letting his arm ghost hers. "I think she's probably just so focused on providing for you that she's forgotten you're growing up and don't need her every step of the way."

"You're probably right. And you? What kind of deep trauma do you harbor from your upbringing?" She tried to joke, but instead she just sounded worried. It was a touchy topic, for sure, but if it meant getting to really talk to her, Paul was willing to share everything.

"I was eight when they got divorced, so I don't really remember much about her. She just kinda fell off the face of the earth, you know? Moved out here with my dad, and he picked up drinking. I know he loved my mom, but after a while, he just got angry at her. And every time he looked at me, he saw her instead. It was rough, but eventually I got big enough to fight back. I moved in with Jared's family when I was sixteen, and ended up moving in with Sam and Emily a few months ago. I don't really speak to him anymore, but according to the voicemails he's left at their place, he's a changed man now. I just can't bring myself to believe it."

"You don't want to get your hopes up," Dakota murmured, fingers ghosting over one of the sea snails she had been gushing about earlier. "And I don't blame you. It's perfectly normal to be wary."

"Thank you," he said, not realizing how badly he needed to hear those words. "I still love him, 'cause I mean, he's my dad; but that doesn't mean I want anything to do with him. It's just hard to imagine him as anything other than what he was. Does that make sense?"

She nodded, finally turning to face him. "You know, Paul, if you ever decide you want to go out on a limb and visit him, I'll go with you. I mean, if you'd want me to…"

A smile found its way to his face, and it was all he could do not to reach out for her. "When the time comes, it would mean the world to me."

For a split second, he could see it in her eyes: she wanted to kiss him. He'd seen the look on so many other women's faces over the course of his life, he immediately spotted it on hers. It was something in the way her eyes shined, or the slight part in her lips—for a moment, his imprint had definitely wanted to kiss him.

But the moment ended as quickly as it began, and Dakota turned back to the tide pool with flushed cheeks. Although his stomach sank slightly in disappointment, he found himself with another image to remember later, and busied himself with one of the fiddler crabs dancing around near his feet.

"Hey, Paul?" She asked, her back still to him.

"Yeah, Little Bit?"

"Thanks for bringing me out here. And stop calling me that."

0o0

The time had come for Leah to play her role in the pack's grand scheme. Paul had called and said he was running Dakota back to Forks so she could get some things together to stay over, and that they would be at the Clearwater home relatively soon. As she paced the living room, Leah was beginning to feel very sick on her stomach. She had no idea how to bring up the "Nate" character to her best friend without having to out everyone involved, and wasn't sure how the younger girl would react to such an offbeat topic.

She didn't have much time to worry herself over it, though, because before long she could hear the rumble of Paul's old truck and the crunching of gravel beneath tires. Her mom came and stood beside her, filling her head with all sorts of encouraging things before flouncing off to open the door.

"Kota!" The woman exclaimed as she took her second daughter into a hug. Leah could see a little sunburn across the bridge of the girl's nose, but noticed that she looked much happier than she had in a long time. She might've thought Paul was the most annoying, obnoxious, idiotic person on the planet, but she was grateful to him, too. It was obvious that the imprint was affecting Dakota as well, and in a good way.

"Hi, Sue! I've missed you!"

"And nothing for me?" The older girl cut in, grinning. Dakota rolled her eyes over the woman's shoulder.

"You act like I didn't just see you this morning, you grump."

"That doesn't count, though. You were too distracted by Emily to actually spend any time with me."

"Is Kota here? Does that mean we can eat now?" Seth came barreling down the hall, looking excitedly towards their mom.

"Paul, would you like to join us for dinner?" Her mom asked him, completely ignoring her brother's outburst.

Dakota looked up at him, and even from where Leah stood, she could see the hope in her eyes. It was actually unsettling—for as long as she could remember, she had been the only person other than her mom that actually had any kind of presence in her life. Her mom and Seth had of course played supporting roles, but there was never really any competition for her best friend's time or affection. Seeing her so strongly affected by the imprint was strange.

"I've actually got to get to work soon," Paul said vaguely, scratching the back of his neck as Dakota quickly hid her disappointment. "But I appreciate the offer, Ms. Sue."

"Oh well, alright," her mom sighed, clapping him on the shoulder and turning back to Seth. "C'mon, you impatient little thing. Leah, you too."

Begrudgingly, she followed her family into the kitchen, making it a point to listen in on the conversation going on in the next room.

"So, did you have fun today?" Paul.

"Believe it or not, yes. Thank you, really. It was great." Kota, being genuine.

"Does that mean I can drag you on more of my adventures?"

"As long as you don't call them dates, yes." Leah fought the urge to snicker.

"Well, I'll shoot you a text later, then. Have fun, okay? I'll see you."

"Bye, Paul!" She sounded so happy. Leah couldn't help but smile at that.

"How does fish fry sound?" Sue called over her shoulder after the front door had been shut. Dakota came in a few seconds later, rolling the sleeves up on her cardigan.

"It sounds great! Anything I can do to help?"

"You can grab some drinks out of the fridge, dear. Other than that, we're set."

And so they were. Dinner went by as usual, the four of them talking and joking like the little offbeat family they'd become. Sue loved having Kota over because it helped brighten her daughter's mood, and the girl was always quick to invite Seth along with them if he seemed left out. Leah had never been a huge fan of that, but she could understand why her mom appreciated it so much.

Once everyone had finished eating and helping clean up, Seth left to go run patrol. Leah waited for her mom to get settled in her dad's old recliner with a book before dragging Dakota upstairs with the promise of a bath and a listening ear.

As she stood in front of the mirror, Leah couldn't help but miss her old self: the one with long, thick hair and a smirk that never faltered. All of that had changed once Sam had left, and had only gotten worse after she'd begun to phase. Every day she woke up feeling like her father's death was her fault, and hers alone, no matter how much her family tried to convince her otherwise.

The only person who was truly able to help the older girl cope was Dakota, but after she'd fallen into the world of imprinting, Leah found herself worrying that she might lose her best friend. It had taken her longer than she was proud of to realize that the imprint hadn't ruined their friendship; in fact, it had given them the opportunity to become even closer. As soon as Paul told Dakota about their world—for it was his responsibility to do so—Leah would never have to lie to the girl again. It was an exciting thought.

So instead of rolling her eyes or snorting as Dakota laid in the tub and retold the events of her day, Leah sat on the closed toilet and listened. It was strange for the blonde girl to be rambling on about something that didn't involve bands Leah didn't listen to or movies she'd never seen, but it wasn't bad. In fact, if Leah pretended it wasn't Paul Lahote she was talking about, it reminded her of all the gossiping they did when she'd first gotten with Sam.

"Speaking of the grosser sex," Leah said when her friend had finally quieted, hoping she'd chosen a decent segue. "Do you remember a kid named Nate? From the Port?"

Dakota sat up in the tub, her hair covering her chest. "Who?"

"Some boy, kinda scrawny, long hair. He said he knew you from… _you know._ "

"Oh, you mean No-Shorts Nate! How the hell did you run into him?"

"Wait, what? No shorts?"

She sighed, obviously not enjoying the conversation. "He was in treatment with me. Apparently, a bunch of guys stole all of his clothes from the locker room at school and spent the next six months calling him 'No-Shorts Nate'."

"Does that have any connection to why he was there?" Leah was purposefully dodging the girl's earlier question, and it seemed like it was working.

"He snapped on one of them. From what he said in group, the kid had to go to the hospital. Nate's parents were given the choice of sending him to some sort of reform camp or Peninsula Behavioral Health. You can infer what they went with."

Leah's blood ran cold. The kid had a history of violence, not only with Kate, but before that as well. Now, he had super strength and immortality on his side, and was looking for her best friend. She was faced with an incredibly hard decision—she could either lie to the pack to help keep Dakota's secret, or tell the truth and throw her under the bus. She felt sick again.

"How'd you run into him, anyway?" _Damn it._

"Uhm, I had to go run some errands for Ma out in Port Angeles," Leah lied. "He was at the register with me, started making conversation. When I mentioned where I was from, he asked if I knew you."

"Huh," Dakota lowered herself back into the water. "Small world."

"You've got that right…" Leah muttered, running her hands through her hair in frustration. She had until the next morning to make her decision, but she couldn't help but feel like a million years wouldn't have been enough time to figure it out.


	9. Split Decision

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the wonderful reviews and all of the follows/favs! I appreciate it more than you could ever imagine. I usually don't write A/N's because I just suck at them, but I figured it would be good for me to throw one onto this chapter. I just wanted to give fair warning that I've rewritten this chapter about six times and still haven't come up with something that I'm 100% satisfied with, so I'm sorry if this disappoints at all. I've just grown incredibly frustrated with it, and figured it would be best to just post my favorite of what I've tried so far and continue on with the story. If you have any suggestions or ideas for the story, I'd love to hear them! I thoroughly enjoy constructive criticism (as long as it's not downright hateful for no reason), and would definitely love to hear your thoughts on this! Thanks for reading, and be prepared for a new chapter soon! ~skydancer-earthwalker**

Dakota woke up early the next morning, and groaned quietly under her breath. After glancing at her phone, she saw that she was awake even earlier than she would have been if she'd been going to school that day. It was the medicine, and she hated it, but it was a necessary evil if she was to be able to function like a normal human being.

Instead of trying to go back to sleep—because she knew it'd be in vain—she sat up and searched around for her bag. Once she'd managed to spot it hiding just under Leah's bed, she grabbed her cigarettes and lighter and stood up to check on her best friend before heading to the front porch for a smoke.

The first issue that arose was the fact that Leah wasn't in her bed. Dakota checked the room to make sure the older girl hadn't left her a note or something explaining where she'd gone. After finding absolutely nothing, she poked her head out of the bedroom to see if Leah might've slipped off to pee, but there were no lights on underneath the bathroom door.

There was light coming from all the way down the hall, however, which was incredibly odd. Sue was a morning person, but usually wasn't up that early. Seth's typically never-ending snores weren't echoing down the hall, and Leah was nowhere to be found. The entire situation was sketchy and weird, and Dakota felt herself becoming uneasy as she made her way down the hallway.

She peered around the corner into a vacant but well-lit living room. The same story went for the kitchen, and Dakota began to truly worry until she saw that the door to the back porch was open. She crept up to the glass and saw Sue sitting on the bottom step, looking worriedly towards a part of the yard she couldn't see from where she stood. Quietly, she backed up and sneaked to the kitchen window, searching the yard until she saw them—Leah and Seth, standing opposite of Sam and Paul.

It was obvious they were talking about something, and heatedly at that. Leah was waving her arms around above her head angrily, and Sam said something back, his shoulders set tensely. Seth seemed to be shifting his weight from foot to foot, and Paul looked _furious._ His arms were bowed out on either side of him in an incredibly awkward position, and she could almost see the veins in his neck all the way from where she stood.

Leah then turned on her heel and began to stomp angrily towards the house, and time began to move in slow motion. As if electrocuted, Paul's body began to shake violently, the edges of his being beginning to blur. Sam opened his mouth and said something, but Paul continued to vibrate. Then, as if he had never been there in the first place, Paul vanished.

In his place stood the largest wolf Dakota had ever set eyes on, easily the size of a horse. It snarled, clawed at the ground, and then began to run towards her best friend; it was like a scene from a horror movie. Without thinking, she sprinted out of the back door and towards Leah, Sue's shouts behind her sounding like nothing more than muffled grunts.

She could see the terror in Leah's face as she darted towards her, could vaguely hear Sam or Seth or Sue bellowing at her to go back, but nothing existed in that moment but her best friend. One of her loved ones had already been hurt because of her negligence, and Dakota was determined to never let that happen again.

In hopes of knocking Leah out of the wolf's reach, she leapt towards the older girl's stomach shoulder-first. With her world spinning the way it was, she felt like she was in the air for hours before the two actually collided, landing with a hard thud on the solid ground. She felt Leah's hands knot in her sweatshirt to pull her out of the way, but the wolf was already upon them.

With scrambling paws and flailing limbs, however, it came to a complete stop mere inches from Dakota, and time sped back up to its regular pace. Sue's high-pitched scream pierced her ears, and Sam's booming commands of "Stop!" echoed through the woods. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her stomach churned.

For a moment, however, she was able to block all of that out again. As she stared at the wolf in front of her, which had lowered its huge body to the point where it was flush with the earth, the reality of the situation came flooding back to her. She had seen Paul, the giant, towering idiot she'd come to genuinely care about, explode into a giant mass of dark silver fur and knife-like teeth—and then try to attack her best friend while the girl's back was turned.

"Y-You… you're," she stammered, rising shakily to her feet and ignoring Leah's attempts to help. "Paul?"

The wolf whined pathetically, wiggling itself deeper into the mud as if it could hide from her. Sam came charging up to them, giving Dakota a glance over before reaching to take her arm.

She snatched it out of his reach before he got the chance, however, and began to tremble herself. A million emotions rushed through her as she gasped for air, but by the time she'd caught her breath, the only one she truly felt was pure, unadulterated rage for the creature at her feet.

"Youfucking _coward_ ," Dakota screeched, a hand pointed shakily in the wolf's—no, Paul's—direction. "What the _fuck_ were you thinking? She had her fucking _back turned,_ and you _still_ charged her! You _pathetic, miserable_ little _coward!_ "

Leah and Seth each grabbed hold of her arms, and immediately she felt herself being dragged back towards the house. "Calm down, Kota," the older girl said. "You don't mean that."

"Don't you tell me what the hell I mean!" She bellowed, thrashing about violently regardless of the fact that she knew she couldn't get loose. "Fucking _monster!_ "

Paul's whine hit an even higher pitch, hurting her ears as he scrambled on his belly towards the two of them. Dakota kicked her feet fiercely, spitting in his general direction. Never in her life had she been so angry, and when the two Clearwaters managed to drag her back into the house and shut the door behind them, it didn't stop there.

"What the hell just happened!? What was that!? And why are you defending him?!" She shouted at Leah, who had taken a few steps away from her. Seth slipped past her and down the hall, and Sue hid in the living room, but Dakota hardly noticed.

"You weren't supposed to find out this way," she muttered, rubbing a hand down her face.

"Find out what? That Paul can just… just _poof_ into some giant, killer dog and try to eat everyone?!" She was borderline hysterical, pacing the kitchen with a racing heart. Everything was wrong.

"Kota," Leah gave her the saddest look the younger girl had seen in years. "We all do that. Not just Paul."

Dakota recoiled as if she'd been slapped across the face. "Wh-what? How… how is that possible?"

"That's not important right now," she rushed. "First, you need to apologize to Paul. You shouldn't have said those things."

"Like hell I shouldn't have! He tried to attack you, Leah!"

"We all fight, all the time! It's normal! The only problem with what just happened was your dumb ass charging out into the middle of everything and almost getting yourself killed!"

Awkwardly, Seth made his way past them again and back outside with a pair of shorts in his hand. Dakota gasped for air. "How long?"

"What do you mean 'how long'?"

"How long have you been like this, Leah?" The words came out in a shaky whisper, her anger beginning to dissipate.

"Since Dad died."

"Two… two _years?_ You've lied to me about this for _two fucking years?_ "

"I couldn't tell you! Sam said—"

"Since when do you give a damn what Sam Uley has to say?!"

"He's my Alpha," the girl shouted back, shoulders slumping in defeat. "I had no choice!"

"So if I hadn't seen this, you never would've told me? I never would've known?"

"You would've known! Just… Just, not like this. It wasn't my place to tell you."

"Then whose fucking place was it? The oh-so-marvelous Samuel?"

"No! I can't—"

"Wait, wait. Let me guess: you can't tell me, 'cause Sam said so."

"It's not like that!" Leah exclaimed, just as upset as her best friend. "There's nothing I can do, Kota! I didn't choose for this to happen!"

"I'm not saying you did, but you _did_ choose to lie to me about it!"

"I didn't choose that, either!"

"I tell you everything, Leah! _Everything!_ And you couldn't bother to do the same for me?"

The door swung open again, and the almighty Alpha himself came walking in. "That's enough, Dakota," he said, a harsh bite in his tone. "Don't take this out on her."

"Get fucking _bent,_ Sam," she snarled back, her hatred for him stronger than it had ever been. "You might be in charge of them, but you're sure as fuck not in charge of me."

He twitched at her words, but other than that, showed no sign of anger towards her. "Leah, go ahead out on patrol. We'll get this patched up here."

"Are you seriously going to listen to _him?_ Of all people? Christ, woman, where is your backbone!?" Dakota was furious.

"Kota… I'm sorry." That was all Leah said before she slipped out of the back door, leaving her best friend standing in the middle of her kitchen with a man she honestly felt like she could murder in that instant.

"Dakota, you have to calm down. You _have_ to talk to Paul." Sam was glaring at her intensely, and it was all the girl could do not to spit in his face, too.

"Eat shit, Uley."

"Please, Kota? He's really upset." Seth was right behind Sam, eyes pleading the way he used to when they were younger. It didn't work.

"I'm not talking to him!"

"You need to, honey," Sue came up behind her, squeezing the girl's shoulders. "I know you're angry and hurt, but I promise you that talking to him will help."

There was a pause, and Dakota sighed heavily. "How? How do you propose it will help?"

The woman turned her around and hugged the girl to her chest. "Trust me, it will. If not to make yourself feel better, do it to make me feel better. Please?"

0o0

" _Coward."_

 _"Monster."_

 _"Pathetic, miserable little coward."_

 _"Monster. Monster. Monster."_

It was all Paul could hear. All he could see was Dakota, screaming and spitting at him. In the time it had taken Seth to bring him out a pair of gym shorts, he'd vomited twice. He sat in the middle of the yard, avoiding the piles and staring out into the woods. With the broken record playing in his mind, it wasn't exactly hard to tune out the argument going on in the little house.

The screen door swung open again, and Paul turned to see Leah stomping off towards the forest, her chest heaving. He pretended he couldn't hear her crying—it was the least he could do. It was his fault this had happened, anyway. If he had just kept his cool, everything would've been fine. Instead, the little progress he'd made the day before with his imprint had gone completely and entirely to shit.

"Don't _touch_ me, Uley!" Paul heard Dakota screech, causing him to leap to his feet and make his way towards the house.

Instead of him having to go in after her, however, his imprint stomped out onto the back porch and slammed the wooden door behind her, letting the storm door swing shut on its own as she plopped down on the steps. Paul froze, his body wanting nothing more than to run towards her, but his mind keeping it in check.

Unless she invited him over there, he was going to keep his distance. Upsetting her _again_ was the last thing he wanted to do, especially after what Leah had told them before everything had gone downhill. He might not have known exactly why she was hospitalized in the first place, but he knew that talking about people morphing into giant wolves would land her there all over again, and that was something he knew he couldn't bear. Just hearing about it happening in the past had been too much for him to handle.

"Stop fucking staring at me, Paul," she growled, digging into her pocket in search of something. "I can't stand it."

He dropped his gaze immediately, spotting a pack of Marlboro's on the ground near his feet. Figuring that was what she was looking for, he knelt down and picked them up.

"Are these what you want?" He asked quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. It was painful not to look at her with all that was happening, but he didn't want to make her angrier than she already was. It was painful enough already.

"How the fuc—christ, yeah, I'm looking for them. Can you… y'know?" Her voice cracked, causing a lump to form in Paul's throat. It was his fault she was upset.

"Can I sit with you?"

The sound of tears clouded her humorless laugh, and she sniffled them back loudly. "Yeah. Just don't stare at me like that… it's unnerving."

In a flash, he was settling himself down beside her on the top of the steps, careful not to let his eyes linger on her for too long. Her hair was a wild, knotted mess, and tears were beginning to fall down her face, but she kept a steely eye trained on the trees before them.

When he handed her the cigarettes, she gingerly took them from his hand and immediately lit one. He turned his eyes to the board of wood that was supporting their feet, trying to count the spirals in it as he allowed himself to calm down. The connection of the imprint was stronger than it had been to begin with, and he was beginning to be able to sense her emotions almost as well as he could his own. At that moment, she just seemed hurt and confused. The anger was subsiding.

"So, what exactly are you?" She broke the silence after a while, lighting a second cigarette off of the ember of the first.

"Do you remember any of our legends?" She shook her head, so he continued. "We're… Spirit Warriors, I guess you'd say. Shapeshifters."

Dakota cocked an eyebrow at him, and he felt a huge weight lift from his chest at the familiar gesture. Carefully, Paul did his best to recite the legends about Taha Aki and Utlapa's treachery, the creation of the first Spirit Warrior, and the Cold Ones' role in the entire thing.

She continued to chain smoke as he spoke, but he forced himself to ignore it and keep talking. Despite his gut feeling to mention it anyway, he skipped over the story of the Third Wife for fear of her putting two and two together too quickly; he'd already lost his chance to tell her about the wolf thing on his own, and he refused to let her stumble upon imprinting as well.

When he finished, he waited for her to say something. Instead, she just ground out her fifth cigarette and gathered the filters in her hand, staring down at them. It felt like years before he heard her voice.

"So… you guys are protectors?"

He nodded, afraid to say anything.

Dakota swallowed hard, finally turning to look up at him. His stomach dropped when he saw the sadness in her dark brown eyes, but he resisted the urge to reach out and touch her. Her body language had told him all he needed to know about that.

"I'm sorry for what I said to you, Paul. I was just, I was so scared and angry. That doesn't excuse it, I know, but I'm still so sorry. I wish I'd just stayed inside, saved everyone the drama."

"It kinda was a dick move on my part in the first place," he admitted. "I just wanted to catch her off guard. She's really fast, y'know. If she sees me coming, she can actually kick my ass."

Surprisingly, she chuckled at that. "I would say I could imagine it, but I have no idea what Leah's... well, what the other side of Leah looks like."

"She's little, at least compared to the rest of us, and really dark grey. If you ask her, she'll probably show you sometime."

Dakota fidgeted where she sat, chewing on her bottom lip in thought. She opened her mouth to speak several times, but choked it back down and returned to staring at nothing.

"What's up?" Paul could tell something was bothering her, and wanted to answer all of her questions before she went back inside. It would make him feel so much better if he could.

"Well, I didn't know if it'd be weird after everything..."

"Go on," he urged, his nerves firing off at every end.

"Do you think, maybe, you could… show me? I wanna see it again, so I don't think I've lost my damn mind."

 _Whew_. "Yeah, definitely. Just, uhm… close your eyes, okay?"

"Why do I have to close my eyes?"

Although he wasn't quite sure if it was the best idea, he smirked at her. "Well, I have to get undressed so I don't ruin Seth's shorts. You're welcome to keep your eyes open if you want to, though."

Dakota scoffed loudly, but he could clearly see the flush in her cheeks as she screwed her eyes shut. "Alright, they're closed, you cheeky bastard. Do the thing."

After glancing towards the window to make sure poor Sue wasn't staring out there at him, he carefully stepped out of the gym shorts Seth had grabbed for him and laid them on the ground. Then, he took a few steps backward and took a deep breath, hoping to all things good and holy that she wouldn't lose it again. A wave rolled through his body and Paul found himself back on four legs, still staring at his imprint nervously.

 _Please don't freak out, please don't freak out,_ he chanted in his head, oblivious to the others in the pack mind.

 _Is she okay?_ Leah immediately asked him, looking through his eyes at the blonde girl shifting anxiously on the steps.

 _She's better, I think. She wanted me to show her again. Could you guys maybe give us a little privacy? I want to focus on her, not you all._

Quil and Jacob agreed, returning their attention to their patrol. Leah was a little more reluctant, but after seeing that her friend wasn't shouting or crying anymore, she too returned to her own business.

Slowly, Paul took a few steps forward, careful to keep his body low to the ground in hopes of looking smaller. He didn't want to upset her again. With painstaking care, he reached his head forward and laid it on the step beside her feet, giving a quiet woof and hoping she knew to open her eyes.

"Oh, my god," Dakota gasped, jolting slightly away from him. "Holy shit."

Instantly, he shot back. _Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…_

"No, no," she exclaimed, rising to her feet. "Come back. You just startled me, is all."

Instead of walking towards her, however, he stood completely still as she made her way to him. He could smell a slight hint of fear on her, but it wasn't very strong—honestly, he would've been worried if he _hadn't_ smelled it on her. After what felt like years, she reached out a hand and softly touched his ear.

"This is ridiculous. I cannot believe this isn't a joke. I'm not crazy?" He doubted she was looking for a response, but he shook his head 'no' anyway. She laughed at that, a real smile lighting up her face and making his heart swell. Although he'd asked her to kindly piss off, he felt Leah's sigh of relief through the pack mind as well.

"I think I like this version of you better, Paul," she joked, playing with the fur on the top of his head. "You can't talk shit like this."

He shot her what he hoped was a dirty look, but she just kept chuckling. "Seriously, this is actually great when you're not trying to eat me."

Without really meaning to, Paul whined loudly. Immediately, she leapt back with her hands cupped over her ears, and he silenced himself. Leah's laugh rang through his mind, and he snapped at her again to leave them alone, but he knew it was in vain.

"You know, I just thought of something."

He tilted his head at her, and she reached up and scratched behind his ear. "I've always wanted a dog," she teased. "But this is substantially cooler."


	10. Mending Fences

**A/N: Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out. I've spent the last couple of weeks in hospice with my grandmother, and her funeral was on Wednesday. She was less of a grandmother and more of a second mom, if that makes any sense, so her death has hit me very hard. I tried the entire time I was there to write and take my mind off things, and the resulting chapter is a little haphazard at best. Once again, sorry if this isn't my best writing, but I figured it wasn't** _ **so**_ **bad that I couldn't make it work. Thanks to all of you who've stuck with this story and my faulty updating schedule, and thank you all for your kind reviews and favorites. Just keep sticking with me; slowly, but surely, this fic will be completed. Again, thank you guys so very much! ~skydancer-earthwalker**

Dakota spent the rest of the day at the Clearwater home, waiting for Leah to return so she could throw herself at the girl's feet and beg for forgiveness. Paul had explained Leah's predicament—what with being the first female shapeshifter, causing Harry's heart attack, and having to share a mind with Sam whenever they were both in wolf form—and the younger girl felt like drowning herself in the toilet for all of the awful things she'd said to her.

Before Paul left, Dakota made sure to give him the tightest hug she could manage as she blubbered out apologies for all the unwarranted names she'd called him. He had just buried his face in her hair and told her to stop, and that he had forgiven her before she'd finished screaming them. She still felt miserable about it, but decided to let it go.

Hugging him in the first place was breaking her no-contact rule, and although it hadn't bothered her at the time, once he'd left she began to worry about whether or not she'd given him the wrong idea. The entire day had been a clusterfuck, and there was just one more thing to pile on her head to torture herself with.

Sue had given the girl her space, bringing her warm drinks every once in a while, but otherwise not bothering her. It was strange being alone in Leah's room for such an extended period of time, but after a couple of hours, she'd decided to put her anxious energy to good use and began cleaning.

As she sniffed through laundry on the floor to determine what needed to be washed, Seth had poked his head in to tell her he was headed out on patrol to relieve Leah, and that the older girl should be returning home soon. That put Dakota into overdrive. The shelves and blinds were dusted, the blades of the ceiling fan wiped down, the bed remade with freshly washed sheets, and the hardwood floor got mopped twice.

By the time she'd finished, however, Leah still hadn't come home. After checking the time on her phone, Dakota saw that Seth had been gone for at least two hours, which she assumed was plenty of time for Leah to run home on four legs.

She asked Sue what she thought could be causing her daughter to take so long, but the woman had just shrugged. Immediately, the girl's mind shot to the million and one ways Leah could be hurt, but figured that someone would've told them by now if anything had gone wrong. Then, she considered a much more plausible option: her best friend was upset with her, and wasn't ready to see her yet.

That thought had of course started a bit of an episode, but Dakota quickly nipped it in the bud with two of her little pre-attack pills from her bag. Once they'd kicked in, she began to plot her course of action. Her first idea was to call around—Seth, Paul, and even Emily—but she figured that if the girl knew she was looking for her, she'd make it even more difficult to be found. The second idea was a little more stressful, but would probably wield much more successful results.

"Sue, did Leah happen to leave her keys here?" Dakota asked the woman, washing out the first of several mugs that she'd brought her throughout the day.

"If she did, they're on the rack by the door. Are you planning on heading out?" It wasn't exactly a normal occurrence for the younger girl to take her best friend's car, but it wasn't a big deal, either.

"I figured if I called Leah to get her to come home, she'd just ignore me. There's only so many places she could be hiding out, so I figured I'd drive around until I found her and then apologize 'til I puke."

Sue gave her a small smile, lightly bumping her away from the sink with her hip. "Then you go on ahead, Kota. I'll handle this."

"Sue, I can wash them, really. It's not a problem."

"That girl's room is spotless for the first time in years thanks to you. I think I can wash a few cups, honey. Now, go on."

After giving her a tight hug, Dakota found Leah's keys right where Sue had said they would be, and made her way out to the little car. It looked exactly the same as the last time she'd been in it, and she briefly wondered if the only reason Leah used it was to keep the wolf-thing under wraps. It seemed much more economical to run around everywhere, honestly.

As she pulled out onto the road, the sun was beginning to set. She hoped that she'd be able to manage navigating in the dark, considering only a handful of roads in La Push had streetlights, but drove on anyway. There was only one plausible place for Leah to be, at least if she wasn't still furry, and Dakota sucked up her pride as she tried her best to remember the directions. For the first time, she was headed to Emily Young's home of her own volition.

0o0

Paul hardly heard the conversation going on around him, but he knew he wasn't missing out on anything extremely important. Embry and Quil were taking turns throwing little bits of paper towel at Emily's hair to see who could land the most in it before she noticed, and Jared was keeping a tally and commentating under his breath.

"And Call lands a _fantastic_ shot," Jared whispered, holding his fork like a microphone. "Making his third above-ear point in under thirty seconds!"

Paul wanted to get involved, to play along with his brothers and take his mind off things, but the events from earlier that day were still making his head spin. First, his imprint had damned him and his entire species to hell, then she'd compared him to a pet dog, and finally, hugged him before he left. Although he didn't know exactly what had landed her in the mental health facility where she'd met that damned bloodsucker, he wondered if it had anything at all to do with her fluctuating moods.

 _People don't get hospitalized for being moody, you dumbass,_ he chastised himself, trying not to slam his face down on the table in frustration. He wanted nothing more than to just ask Dakota herself, but knew it wouldn't bode well for her friendship with Leah. It was obvious that the Clearwater girl had been debating whether or not to tell them anything, which was what had annoyed him in the first place, but eventually she'd caved.

The bloodsucker's name was Nate, which they'd already known, and had apparently been admitted to the same place Dakota was a few years prior. What transpired there was anyone's guess, but whatever had happened must have left a lasting impression on the bastard, because he was stopping at no lengths to get to her.

Paul didn't have much opportunity to let his mind wander through the possible reasons this Nate character was so set on his imprint, though, for Leah plopped down beside him with no regards to personal space and laid her head heavily on his shoulder. He looked down at her in confusion, but she just rolled her eyes dramatically.

"No, Lahote, I'm not hitting on you," she grumbled, still not moving. "I need you to convince me to go home and talk to Kota."

"Wait, you haven't been home yet?"

"Nope. I can't do it. I can't face her."

Her sudden affection began to make sense. No one else had really felt the wrath of Dakota's outburst aside from Sam, and going to him for advice wasn't really in the girl's cards—she needed advice, and had actually sucked up her pride and come to him.

"You want my honest opinion?" Paul tore off a small piece of paper towel and threw it in Jared's drink when he wasn't looking.

"No, I want a boldfaced lie that everything is going to be fine as long as I just talk to her."

"That's not exactly a lie, Leah. She _was_ super pissed; now, she just feels like a dick for saying those things to you. The entire time I was there with her, all she could talk about was how worried she was that you wouldn't forgive her."

She lifted her head and knitted her eyebrows together at him, reminding him of the blonde girl in question. They really were similar when he took the time to think about it. "You're sure? You're not bullshitting me?"

"Why would I? Jesus, woman, you really are dense sometimes."

Just like he'd expected, she smacked him sharply on the back of the head. It didn't anger him, though. It just made him laugh. Paul was beginning to be able to see the affect the imprint was having on him, even when it came to things that didn't involve Dakota.

Emily had gushed on and on from day one how much better his mood was becoming, but it took a while for him to actually believe her. As he sat next to his least favorite Clearwater, he began to see her in a new light—even if he wasn't her biggest fan, as long as she made Kota happy, she made him happy, too.

Suddenly, the sound of gravel crunching under tires met their ears, and everyone stood up nervously. All of the cars were accounted for, and no one was expected to come by that night. It just wasn't normal. Emily made her way to the window and peeked out, but surprisingly her face was bright when she turned back around.

"Dakota came to visit!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together happily. "How come none of you told me?"

"We didn't know," Leah said, making her way towards the door. "Should I leave?"

The last part was directed at Paul, who shook his head fiercely. "My guess is that she's here for you."

"How'd she know where I was?"

"It's not too hard to guess, dipshit," he retorted, returning to his seat. "Go ahead out there and talk to her."

"What if she's still mad?"

Paul sighed in frustration. "Just go out there, Leah."

With a final worried glance over her shoulder, she did. When the door shut behind her, everyone went back to their original pastimes: Emily was flitting around the kitchen trying to whip something up for dinner, and the other guys continued to toss paper towel bits. She honestly looked like she'd been out in a snow flurry at that point, and he wondered how she hadn't noticed.

When Dakota's voice made its way to his keen ears, Paul forced himself to join in with the guys to keep his mind off of their conversation. Although he wanted to know what was being said, he knew Leah would rip him a new one if he eavesdropped.

As he joked with his brothers, he found himself in a genuinely good mood. Of course the day could've had a much better start, but knowing his imprint was nearby was like an instant upper. The fact that he didn't have to hide being a wolf anymore was also a huge boost, and by the time Emily actually realized what they'd all been up to, he was laughing alongside the rest of the guys as she threatened them with a wooden spoon.

"How long have they been out there?" Jared asked after Emily had returned to start making plates, gesturing over his shoulder to the front door.

Paul glanced at the clock above the microwave. "About half an hour, give or take. Why?"

"And you're not already out there biting at the bit to see her? What happened to Stalker Paul?"

He shoved his best friend lightly, trying not to flush at the embarrassing nickname. "Oh, shut the fuck up. Like you were any better with Kim."

"I got lucky," Jared said seriously. "She liked it when I stalked her. You've got Princess Firecracker out there, though, and I'm sure she wouldn't enjoy hearing about your little rendezvous."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me!"

And with that, he leapt from his seat at the table and charged for the front door, Paul hot on his heels. When they made it out on the porch, however, they froze. Neither Dakota nor Leah was anywhere to be seen.

The car still sat in the driveway, and the younger girl's bag was sitting on the bottom step, but no one was around. Paul looked around nervously, as did Jared, but there still was no sign of them. His best friend quickly poked his head back inside to alert the other two, who hurried outside as well.

"Do you think they might've gone for a walk?" Embry offered, squinting as he stared at the tree line.

"Dakota's not exactly in peak physical condition, so I doubt it." Paul was trying so hard not to worry, but it was beginning to overpower his thoughts. So many things could be going wrong, and he had no idea.

"Let's just follow her scent, man," Quil interjected, being the voice of reason for the first time in his life. "It shouldn't be hard to find them."

Although it would've been easier in wolf form, Paul didn't want to scare Dakota when they found her, so he asked everyone to stay on two legs. They were obviously annoyed with him, but honored his request anyway. It was a well-known fact that his relationship with his imprint was practically always on faulty ground, and they didn't want to face his wrath if they happened to make it fall through again.

A little ways into the woods, Paul caught a harsh wiff of cigarette smoke, and turned to walk towards it. The others followed quietly, for once not joking around and making a giant scene. When he found the source of it, however, his worry morphed into panic. A freshly-lit cigarette lay precariously balanced on a low hanging branch, taunting him.

"Phase," he commanded. "Now."

As the others began to quickly strip out of their clothes, the sound of a twig breaking behind them caught their attention. They were upwind of whatever it was, however, and couldn't smell a damned thing. A pile of leaves crunched loudly, followed by several more twigs, and then everything was silent again.

Paul and Jared had made it all the way down to their boxers, and the other two had stopped at their shorts—something was wrong. There was a very long pause before anyone spoke, and when a voice was heard, it was like music to Paul's ears.

"Keep your clothes on, you exhibitionists!" Dakota shouted from somewhere in the trees, making everyone quickly yank their appropriate attire back on.

"Where the hell are you?" Paul called back, looking and still seeing nothing.

Suddenly, Leah bounded through the underbrush—in all of her furry glory—with his imprint seated squarely between her shoulder blades. "Here we are!" She grinned wildly, both hands knotted securely in Leah's neck fur.

"What are you _doing_?" Jared exclaimed, yanking his shirt over his head. "There's no way Sam is okay with that."

"Well, I didn't particularly care to ask him," she fired back, making Quil and Embry snort out muffled laughs. "What're _you_ guys doing?"

"Looking for you," Paul chuckled, his panic fading. She was with Leah, she was safe. "I assume everything is okay now?"

Leah nodded as best as she could without slinging Dakota halfway across the forest, and the blonde girl just pulled a face. "No, we hate each other's guts and I was actually in the middle of planning her murder."

Without giving any of them time to say something smartass in return, Leah twisted and bounded off towards the house, Dakota leaning low to avoid getting whacked by branches. It was an interesting sight to see, and Paul couldn't stop the goofy smile that spread across his face. Yeah, her initial reaction had sucked, but did any of the other guys have the bragging rights of saying their imprint wasn't scared to mount a giant wolf? Hell no, and he was prouder than a father sending his kid off to college about it.

"Shit," Jared muttered as they made their way back to the house. "That gives a whole new meaning to calling the imprints 'wolf girls', don't you think?"

Paul was still beaming. "That's _my_ wolf girl, thank you very much."

0o0

The rest of the weekend passed without incident. Her mom had called to tell her she "wasn't allowed" to work until Monday, and Dakota had to feign annoyance about it. In all reality, she was having the time of her life. There was something infinitely cool about being in the loop about something so peculiar, and she actually managed to convince Leah to let her take some shots of her wolf form after she'd promised never to show them to anyone outside of the pack.

Sue seemed to flutter around the house with a much lighter conscience after the big news break, too, happily shouting to Seth to be safe on patrol as he left that Sunday morning. Leah was allowed to spend the day with her, and just like Paul had promised, he stopped by to see her for a bit as well.

Things had never felt so bright for Dakota, and she didn't know how to explain it. Just earlier that week, she was certain Leah was beginning to hate her and Paul had just been trying to play her. Now, as she sat in Leah's passenger seat on the way back to her own home, she knew that couldn't be farther from the truth.

She had the most wonderful best friend on the planet, and was beginning to dote on Paul almost as fiercely. Being around the other members of the pack was actually fun, too, for none of them treated her like an outsider. For some reason unbeknownst to her, a full two years after her best friend exploded into one of them, she was accepted into their little group as if she'd been there all along.

Even Sam had actually pulled her aside and apologized for having Leah leave her in the dark for so long, which had been uncomfortable to say the least. After internally debating on it the entire time he was speaking, she apologized to him as well. Dakota explained that although she'd meant every single thing she'd screamed at him, she did regret telling him like she did. It was the best she could offer. After a strong handshake that he made into an awkward half-hug, they had come to the mutual agreement that they could continue to dislike each other, but do so respectfully. It was strange, but it worked.

When Leah arrived in front of her house, Dakota gave her a quick hug and headed on towards the front porch, knowing full well her best friend needed to bolt home if she had any chance of being on time for patrol. She said the word aloud to herself quietly as she made her way to her door, realizing just how much it explained about the past two years of friendship with Leah Clearwater.

All of the missed calls, unexplained and missed visits, and strange working hours were all tied up in the nice little package of "patrol". Being in on their secret was liberating, and took a weight off of Dakota's shoulders that she hadn't quite realized was there.

After giving her mom a quick hug and heading upstairs to get settled in, Dakota couldn't help but smile. In a way, nothing had changed; at the same time, however, nothing was the same. The only issue that was really gnawing at her was the question that had been bouncing around her brain since she'd found out: if she had been banned from knowing the secret before, what had changed? Why, after all of that time of leaving her in the dark, was it deemed safe to bring her in on it now?

With newfound purpose, Dakota grabbed an old notebook and a pen before getting comfortable in bed with her laptop. Once she'd reached the search engine, she pondered over what terms would help the most before deciding on two little words: _Quileute legends._ There had to be something else to the story, and she was biting at the bit to find out what it could be.


	11. Surprise, Surprise

"So, how are you feeling?"

Dakota was sprawled out on the couch in Dr. Gwen's office during their weekly Thursday session, smiling at the older woman. "As of right now, I'm feeling great."

Dr. Gwen smiled right back at her, jotting notes down. "Is there anything in particular that caused this spike in your mood?"

"I just had a great weekend. I was able to get some really cool shots last Friday, too. Mom let me skip the day and Paul took me to this little tide pool—wanna see them?"

"Of course, Dakota." The woman was genuinely surprised to see the young girl so excited, and made yet another note about this Paul character in her folder.

Normally, she would steer such a young BPD patient away from any kind of romantic relationship—it would be far too easy for the inevitable downfall of it to destroy whatever progress had been made in their treatment. With all of Dakota's secondhand experiences of relationships, however, the girl had gone from understandably wary to downright skeptical of the opposite sex. That wasn't healthy, either. Dr. Gwen was curious to see how her situation with this Paul worked out, and hoped that her intuition about the young girl in front of her was correct. Hopefully, she was stronger than she seemed.

Dakota scrolled slowly through the photos, making sure to have skipped over the shots of Leah's wolf form before crossing the room. Although she wanted to tell Dr. Gwen about everything, she'd given her word not to. There was also the fact that she would probably be thrown back to Port Angeles if she started talking about how her closest friends could explode into giant wolves at any given moment.

When she finished the impromptu slideshow, she plopped back down on the couch across from her doctor with a contented sigh. Everything seemed to be going in her favor, and she was even able to avoid the pessimistic side of her that wondered what would bring it crashing down upon her.

"I'm assuming the handsome man in most of those pictures is Paul?" Dr. Gwen gave her a toothy grin, her owl-eyes scrunching up mischievously behind her large glasses.

"That's Paul," she affirmed. "It's kind of annoying how good-looking he is, honestly."

The older woman laughed. "And why is that?"

"Well, it makes it harder to stick to my plan: friendship or zilch."

"Is he showing any signs that he wants something more from you?"

"Well, he called our little trip to the tide pool a 'date', and it seems like he's always trying to be closer to me. It's hard to tell if I'm just making it all up or if it's actually happening, but I can't help but wonder if it'd be easier to tell the difference if he was ugly."

"Does that mean you wouldn't be interested in him? If he weren't conventionally attractive, I mean."

Dakota sighed. "Not really. At this point, he could probably look like an ostrich and it wouldn't matter. He's funny, he's a smartass—sorry—and just when I think I'm ready to murder him, he says something sweet or does something ridiculously nice and I'm back at square one."

"Well, if you don't mind me asking, why are you still fighting it?"

"Because I don't want to end up like my mom, or Marnie, or Leah. There's so much that could go wrong that I'm not cut out to handle."

"Have you ever tried to handle it before?"

"Well, no…"

"Then how can you know? Now, I'm not suggesting you go run off into the sunset with no trepidation whatsoever for your situation, but my professional opinion is to stop fighting yourself at every turn. Let life happen. If it goes badly, it goes badly. Nothing can ever be perfect, Dakota."

Dakota watched the timer count down its last few seconds, waiting for it to signal the end of their session. "Just because it can't be perfect doesn't mean I don't want it to be."

0o0

The mind-reading leech had returned from his honeymoon. The pack was gathered at Emily's, preparing to make their way to the Cullen's in search of real, unfiltered answers. Well, at least that was Paul's main concern. Jacob was the most worried about whether or not his leech-loving girlfriend had been bitten, and the rest of the pack was on the fence of both issues. It was tense to say the least.

"Alright, we've got two main goals today, guys—and girls," Sam quickly added after seeing the look on Leah's face. "We have to check on Bella Swan, and we have to know what's going on in this Nate guy's head. We have to be smart about this."

"We could just go in there and rip everyone apart," Paul suggested in a monotone. "It would solve all the issues."

Across the room, Jacob let out a deep snarl. Sam shot the both of them a dirty look and continued speaking. "Like I was saying—we have to be _smart._ I think our best bet would be to send in Seth, Jacob, and Leah. Seth would be our peacekeeper, Jacob as our emergency muscle, and Leah could keep her head long enough to ask the important questions. Any objections?"

There was a chorus of complaints with the plan, but no one was able to really back them up with actual reasoning. Once they'd all begrudgingly agreed on the course of action, they headed outside to phase and make their way to the treaty line.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Paul muttered to Jared, yanking his shirt over his head as they walked towards the woods.

"Me either," Jared agreed, following suit. "But we don't really have anything better planned, and we don't have to time to figure something else out."

Once everyone phased in, the pack mind was full of worries, frustration, annoyance, and anger. It took Sam several tries to get everyone to quiet down, but once they did, he led the formation towards the Cullen's.

Paul did his best to focus on the forest before him, but his mind kept wandering to his imprint. He wondered what she was doing right then, if she was somewhere safe. He figured she was either at home or at work, and found no comfort in either of those thoughts. The only place he felt even remotely comfortable leaving her alone was on the reservation, and even then he was wary of it.

The other imprinted members of the pack were also thinking about their other halves, and those without imprints were obviously trying to have a small conversation amongst themselves to save their thoughts from the onslaught. Forcing himself out of his worrisome train of thought, Paul slowly fell back until he was running beside Leah.

 _You doing alright?_ He asked, bumping into her lightly.

 _I'm alive, if that counts for anything._

 _I take it you're worried, too?_

For the first time, Leah deliberately showed him an image of Dakota. She was sitting in the bathtub, her long hair covering her chest and her eyebrows arched. She was telling Leah the story of Nate, and what had gotten him admitted to her treatment facility, and Paul could literally feel the fear that settled in Leah's stomach through the memory.

 _We're going to have to tell her soon, you know,_ she declared once she'd finished showing him her thoughts. _I'm just scared of how she'll react when she realizes I told you all everything._

 _You didn't tell us because you wanted to,_ Paul said, trying to comfort her. _And really, you didn't tell us much—which I'm still irritated about, by the way. What got her put there in the first place?_

 _That's for her to tell. I'm tired of spilling her secrets._

With that, their conversation was done. Shortly after, the pack arrived at the treaty line, where Edward, Carlisle, and the red-eyed bastard were waiting. Sam had to issue an Alpha command through the pack mind to stop Paul from leaping across the ravine and tearing him to shreds.

"None of you have to change back if you're uncomfortable doing so," Edward called to them, his face lacking expression. "But it would be greatly appreciated if you did."

With a nod, Sam gestured to the three he had chosen to speak for the pack to go and phase out. They disappeared into the underbrush and, a few moments later, returned in their human forms. Seth gave the vampires a happy wave, Leah glowered, and Jacob look absolutely grief-stricken. As a group, they definitely didn't personify the intimidation tactic Paul had wanted them to be.

"We have a lot to talk about, you know." Leah declared, folding her arms across her chest.

Carlisle nodded his agreement. "Of course. Is it alright if we talk here, though? Bella is ill at the moment, and I would rather not wear her out with visitors."

Jacob growled deep in his chest, frustrating Paul infinitely. The little shit had already been told that they would check on his little girlfriend—first, however, they needed to get answers from the greasy-headed fuck that was after his imprint.

"We'll need to see her, Carlisle, to ensure you haven't broken the treaty. First, though, we have to discuss _him,"_ she gestured to the newborn. "And why he's here."

"Nathan," Carlisle placed a hand gently on the boy's shoulder. "Could you please explain again why you've come here?"

The red-eyed bloodsucker looked so nervous that Paul figured he would've shit his pants if his body was capable of such a function. "I need to talk to Dakota Moreno," he said shakily. "I just want to thank her for being a friend. I want her to know that I can be there for her just like she was for me."

Paul snarled so loudly that he found himself trapped between Jared and Quil, who were spouting whatever calming bullshit they could think of to keep their friend from losing his cool. Sam, seeing that the others had him under control, turned to Leah and made a grand gesture towards the mind-reading leech to urge her to ask for his fact check.

"He's telling the truth," Edward deadpanned, obviously wishing he were somewhere else. "Albeit a watered-down version."

"What do you mean?" Leah demanded, turning to glower at the new Cullen. "What aren't you telling us?"

"I-I… w-well…"

"He thinks the girl's in love with him," Edward exclaimed with annoyance. "But he poses no danger to you all, or her, especially while in our care. Are we done here?"

If Paul was livid before, no words existed to express the burning hatred and rage that exploded from his chest at the mind-reader's words. The new Cullen shrank in defeat, and Paul felt his vision tunnel in around him.

Without a second thought, he charged. It took Jared, Quil, and Embry to restrain him, with Sam barking out Alpha commands all the while, but just as quickly as the attack began, it was stopped. Paul hadn't made it across the line—the treaty had yet to be broken.

Leah's expression of anger switched to one of shock before she quickly reined it in and replaced it with a look of stone. "As I'm sure you're aware, Dakota is an imprint. She'll be having nothing to do with him."

The red-eyed leech cut in, having found his voice somewhere amidst the chaos. "Kota isn't property, 'imprint' or not. She can make her own decisions."

"You know nothing about our world, bloodsucker, and it's in your best interests that you keep it that way."

Leah was doing her very best to speak with some semblance of cordiality, but it was obvious that her resolve was beginning to falter. From where he sat pinned on the ground, however, Paul couldn't help but admire her for it. He definitely didn't have the patience for the political bullshit—all he wanted to do was tear them all to pieces.

"Are we done here?" Edward repeated, glancing in the direction of their home. "I've got other matters to attend to."

"You're not getting out of this that easily," Leah declared. "We're also here to check on Bella Swan. With our own eyes."

Carlisle sighed, running a hand through his immaculate hair. "Like I said, Bella is ill. I would like to avoid bombarding her with visitors, if it's at all possible."

"I'll go, and Seth and Leah can wait outside. Does that sound fair?" It was obvious to the wolves just how scared Jacob was. His thoughts had been of nothing but Bella since he'd returned, and they all knew this would make or break their brother.

Sam barked his agreement to Jacob, who thankfully understood its meaning. After he, Seth, and Leah leapt across the ravine, Paul watched them all head farther into the property with a tinge of red to his vision. When the others felt it safe to do so, they released their grip on him and turned to Sam.

 _I don't think we have anything to worry about right now,_ Sam said. _They came back here, which says to me that Bella is still human. I'm not worried about Jake, or Seth and Leah, either. We'll head out to the lumber yard and wait for them there._

 _Sam,_ Paul interjected weakly. _Can I go see Dakota? If you're not really worried, does that mean I can go?_

His Alpha sighed heavily, nodding his massive head. He could feel exactly what Paul was feeling, and knew his third-in-command needed nothing more than to go and be with his imprint. They all knew that what the red-eyed leech said had bothered him—in fact, it honestly bothered them all because the bastard held a valid point. At the end of the day, Paul would do whatever made Dakota happy, no matter where it landed him.

0o0

As Dakota stared at the sea of papers spread out on her dining room table before her, she couldn't seem to do much but groan inwardly at them. She hadn't realized how convoluted of a process she would have to go through in order to have a decent senior paper, but the sheer amount of information in front of her had brought her back to reality. She found herself wishing she'd managed her time better, for the paper itself was due in less than two weeks.

Why her teacher insisted on having the papers turned in a solid month before the actual presentation date baffled all of the students, but there wasn't much to be gained from arguing about it. Refusing to let herself sit and mope about it any longer, Dakota opened her laptop and put her large music library on shuffle as she forced herself to get to work.

Less than thirty minutes into her newfound productivity, however, someone began to knock furiously on her front door. After taking a second to gather herself, she hopped up from her seat to answer it, secretly glad for the interruption. One more citation and she might've started screaming aloud.

When she opened the door, she couldn't help but grin at Paul leaning on her porch railing. He hadn't bothered letting her know he was coming, but the surprise definitely wasn't unwelcome. In fact, she had felt like a lot of her issue concentrating that afternoon had something to do with him.

She was preparing to fire something smart his way when she saw the expression on his face; whatever the reason was for his surprise visit, it wasn't good. "What's wrong?"

Paul pulled a tiny smile, but it didn't fool her. "Nothing. Can I come inside?"

Stepping out of the doorway, she waved him past her. Once they were both in the house, she took care to lock the deadbolt on the door behind them. Something was wrong, and even though it wasn't much, locking the door made her feel a tiny bit better.

"Working on your paper?" He shuffled through some of the papers on the table, but it was obvious he wasn't actually paying much attention to them.

"I was just finishing up for the night," she lied. "So, what's going on?"

Paul gave her an exasperated look, shaking his head once. "I don't want to go into details, Kota. I'm just in a shitty mood and in desperate need of a pick-me-up."

"And I'm supposed to be your 'pick-me-up'? That's a pretty big responsibility, Lahote."

Thankfully, her terrible attempt at a joke actually made him crack a real smile. "I'm pretty sure you can manage it."

"Well, let me get all of this shit put away, and then I'll get to work on Operation Mood Booster." Quickly, she piled all of her papers into one hefty stack and slipped it into a folder, sliding it to the other side of the table. She had a pretty good idea of what she could pull off, and severely hoped he would just go along with it.

"So what're we listening to?" Paul settled in at the newly-cleared table, pulling her laptop towards him to scroll through her music.

"Whatever your little heart desires," she called from the kitchen, where she was gathering her supplies. "My only request is that it isn't too sad and shit—I want to be happy tonight."

"Ah, yes, happy metal. I'm sure that's a thing."

Dakota ignored his smartass comment, instead looking through the freezer until she found what she'd hidden there months ago: a bottle of Captain Morgan's Cannon Blast rum. It was the only hard liquor her mother wouldn't notice was missing, and she doubted anything weaker would do Paul any service.

With the bottle in one hand and two tumblers in the other, she made her way back to the dining room where Paul was still scrolling through her music. Or at least that's what she thought he was doing.

"I like your background," he said smugly, not looking up from the computer screen. "I look good."

She tried to will the blush away from her cheeks. "It's a slideshow, asshat. You're not the only one in it."

"I've seen at least five of me, though. That's gotta count for something."

"Are you this arrogant all the time? 'Cause if you are, I'm gonna have to think of a different plan." She set the bottle and glasses down on the table with a solid _clink_ , effectively pulling his attention away from her laptop.

"What're you doing with that?" Paul's joking tone was gone, replaced with shock. "You can't really be serious."

"Oh, but I am. I've been sitting on this forever now—who better to share it with than someone 'in desperate need of a pick-me-up'?" Dakota broke the seal on the bottle with a grin, pouring one small shot in one glass and a much larger one in the other.

"Kota, are you sure you should be drinking? You're really small, it probably doesn't take much for you to… you know."

"You're not wrong, but it's not like I'm at a huge party getting blasted. I'm with you. I'll be fine."

Just like she hoped he would, Paul softened at her words. "Just keep in mind that I've got the wolf thing going on—it makes it a lot harder for me to actually feel the effects."

"I'm not trying to get you wasted, Lahote," she slid into the seat next to him and smirked. "I'm just trying to brighten up your evening."

With a small sigh, Paul reached out and took the fuller of the two glasses. "On the count of three?"

Dakota grabbed her own shot and crossed her arm around Paul's, ignoring the jolt in her senses when they touched. "One, two, three!"

0o0

Paul had managed to get a little tipsy. It'd taken the vast majority of the bottle of rum to do it, but he was tipsy. Dakota, on the other hand, was long gone. An hour and three shots in, she was slurring her words, giggling, and dancing around the living room to some classic rock CD she'd found of her mom's.

"Paul!" She called out, oblivious to the fact that he was less than five feet away from her. "Come dance with me!"

He couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I don't dance, Little Bit."

"Like hell you don't!" She barreled towards the couch he was sitting on, almost falling over her own feet in the process. After a few seconds of fumbling for his hands, she grabbed them both and tried her hardest to pry him from his seat.

"You're gonna lose, y'know," he stated simply, barely feeling her tugs while it was painfully obvious she was using her full might. "You might as well give up."

Suddenly, she stopped tugging and looked him dead in the eye with the most extreme pout he'd ever seen on another human being in his life. "Please, Paul? I want to dance with you."

His chest tightened sharply, and he damned the imprint to hell and back as he rose to his feet. It had been years since he'd even jokingly danced, and Paul found himself so incredibly wrapped around this girl's finger that he'd only protested it twice. The annoyance left as quickly as it came, however, because she absolutely squealed with delight as he followed her to the middle of the living room.

"I'm a terrible dancer," he warned her as she left him long enough to mess with the radio. "So don't make fun of me for it. I warned you."

Dakota settled on a song and drunkenly shimmied her way back to him, shrugging. "You're a shitty dancer and I'm really blasted—who cares?"

Paul didn't try to fight the smile that overtook his face. She eagerly grabbed his hands and led him in an awkward, bumbling attempt of a dance, laughing the entire time. It was strange seeing her so carefree—she'd started smiling around him more often, but nothing like this. The light in her features didn't dim whatsoever, even when he went out on a limb and pulled her a bit closer to his chest.

"You know," she slurred, looking up at him with bottomless eyes. "Dr. Gwen told me that I should stop fighting you."

"Fighting me? And who's Dr. Gwen?"

"Dr. Gwen is my therapist. I go see her once a week—I went today!" She had stopped dancing, but didn't make any move to try and distance herself from him. If anything, she moved a half-step closer.

"So, you _don't_ have a third nipple?" He teased, freeing one of his hands to ruffle her hair. She didn't even bother fixing it—she was that drunk.

"Paul, this is serious," Dakota smacked him lightly on the chest, still staring up at him. "And I'm gonna tell you now before I'm not drunk anymore because if I don't, I don't know if I ever will."

Although he desperately wanted to hear whatever she had to say, Paul didn't want her to spill her secrets just because she'd been drinking. "I don't want you to feel like you have to do anything you're not comfortable with, Kota. If you don't want to tell me sober, don't tell me drunk."

"That's the thing! I wanna tell you, like, all the time—it's just really hard. But you told me your big secret, and it's only fair if I tell you mine!"

"Fine," he resigned. "Tell me if you want. I just don't want you to regret it."

"I don't think I'll regret it," she paused long enough to let out a small hiccup. "But only if you promise not to go anywhere. I don't think I could be okay if you left."

Again, his chest constricted harshly, but this time it was different. She was scared _he_ would leave _her,_ as if he had the choice. Even if he did, he knew that he wouldn't want to—there was something about Dakota that he knew would've kept him coming back for more, imprint or not.

"I promise, Little Bit. You're stuck with me."

"Good. Now, I give you my formal permission to ask Leah about how to deal with this 'cause she's dealt with it forever, but here it goes: I have something called 'borderline personality disorder'."

Paul immediately felt dizzier than he had just moments before, and he knew it wasn't the alcohol. He'd figured she had something going on, but hoped it was something he could understand immediately like depression or anxiety. He'd never heard of what she mentioned, and that worried him.

"And what does that mean?" He was almost afraid to ask. He knew he'd be there for her no matter what it entailed, but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous about it.

"Basically, everything I feel is to the max. It's like, an emotional roller coaster, I guess? My moods can change really fast and I take it out on people around me a lot. I do dumb shit just to feel something. I suck at trusting people 'cause I'm scared everyone's out to fuck me over, and it makes it really hard to keep friends. That's why Leah's so special to me—and now, you are too."

Even though his head was spinning with the information she'd given him, he was grounded by what she'd finished with. Dakota had said he was important to her, and she'd meant it. She was still looking up at him, glazed eyes searching his face for some sort of cue as to how he was feeling.

"I'm with you for the long haul, Kota," he finally said, fixing the portion of her hair he'd misplaced just moments before. "You're important to me, too."

Slowly, a smile crept across her freckled face and lit up her eyes again. Her entire face radiated the relief she was obviously feeling at his words. As the song on the radio changed, she began to slowly move them side to side in a different drunken dance.

"But, like I was saying, Dr. Gwen said I should stop fighting you. How do you feel about that?" Although she was still smiling, the conversation had dipped back into unknown territory for Paul, which made him nervous all over again.

"What do you mean, 'fighting me'?"

In a flash, Dakota was flush against him, pulling his upper body down to her level by his shirt. Her black-brown eyes met his much lighter ones with a fiery intensity, and he could hear her heartbeat racing much faster than it had been beforehand. In all honesty, his pulse was racing, too.

"What do you want from me, Paul?" Her tone was dangerous, and he knew with certainty that whatever he said next could either make or break everything he'd been working so hard for. He took a few seconds to take her in while he gathered his thoughts, hoping like hell he wasn't about to ruin everything.

"Whatever you're willing to give me, Dakota. I would never ask for anything more than what you want."

She narrowed her eyes and cocked an eyebrow, her smile fading. Paul gulped audibly. Even though she was a tiny thing, she held a power over him like no one else ever could; his heart was in her hands, and she didn't realize it at all.

"I don't think I know what I want for sure yet," Dakota finally murmured, dropping her gaze to where her hand was coiled in the collar of his shirt. "But I want to try something. Close your eyes."

Heart thundering, Paul did as she asked. He could feel her getting closer and closer, to the point that he could feel her breath fanning softly across his face. There was nothing he wanted more than to wrap his arms around her waist and just kiss her, but he refused to push things any faster than she was willing to have them go.

"Oh, god," she exclaimed, suddenly jumping from his arms and stumbling across the room as fast as she could manage. "I've gotta—oh, god!"

And with that, right before he thought she was going to kiss him, Dakota hunched over and threw up all over the floor in front of her.


	12. Major Shifts

Dakota sat on the steps outside of Forks High, waiting quite impatiently for Paul to pick her up. He'd texted her at least five times over the course of the day asking her to wait for him out front after the final bell, which had rung over an hour ago. With a groan of frustration and a final glance around the nearly empty parking lot, she decided that she wasn't going to let herself look like an idiot any longer. Whatever she'd thought she'd shared with Paul the night before must've been nothing more than drunken imaginings.

She pulled her beanie lower over her ears, trying not to think of how cold it was getting and how long of a walk she had ahead of her. Instead, she lit a cigarette once she was off campus and pulled out her phone to shoot Paul a text:

 **Got out of school an hour ago. I'm going home.**

To say she was upset was an understatement. It figured, though, that the moment she decided to let go of her wariness about Paul was the same moment he decided to go AWOL again. The miserable fire raged inside of her chest as she tromped along the side of the road, and she wondered what she must've done wrong in order to be so blatantly forgotten. The night before, he'd literally told her that he wasn't going anywhere. She didn't expect for him to turn back on his word so soon.

It might've seemed petty to anyone else, and honestly, Dakota knew that a lot of her reaction to Paul's no-show definitely had something to do with her condition, but that didn't comfort her in the slightest. In fact, it made her angrier.

She pulled her headphones from her bag and plugged them into her phone, deciding to drown out her thoughts with roaring guitars and screaming lyrics. She had to figure out some way to hold herself together until she got home, and really, that was her only option. Before she slipped it back into her hoodie pocket, however, she made sure to mute her text notifications—to hell with him and whatever he had to say.

Half an hour passed, and she was still a long trek from home. Each step she took made her backpack feel ten times heavier than it actually was, and she deeply regretted not eating an actual lunch earlier in the day. As she walked, she couldn't help but feel like her first impression of Paul was right: he was a carbon copy of Sam Uley, and she should've avoided him from the start.

Part of her was angry about it, but really, she was just disappointed. If she'd learned anything from her mother and Leah, it should've been that getting involved with someone would mean nothing but pain. Dakota had thought she knew what she was getting herself into, but as her throat began to tighten and her eyes began to burn, she knew she'd misjudged her situation entirely. She hadn't even allowed herself to completely put herself out there, and still she wanted to curl up in a ball and hide out from the world. It was scary to imagine how badly she could get hurt if things were more serious with Paul, and there was no way in hell she'd let that happen after this. It wasn't safe.

There came a loud rumbling from behind her, and in order to avoid being _that_ asshole pedestrian, Dakota made her way closer to the tree line. As it came closer, she noticed that the sound began to lose its volume, but she ignored it. _They're probably just slowing down to stare,_ she thought bitterly.

She stomped onward, pretending she didn't feel the cold mud seeping into her canvas tennis shoes or the bitter wind cutting through her hoodie. There was still at least another five miles to go, and if she allowed herself to start mentally complaining so early in her trip, it would only make the rest of it ten times worse.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an ancient brown pickup truck slow practically to a stop parallel to where she was walking, and the young Native girl driving was flailing her arms wildly. Not wanting to look rude, Dakota pulled her headphones out and turned to her.

"I'm alright," she called out, waving the girl on. "I don't have much farther to go! Thanks anyway!"

The girl's eyebrows knitted together tightly. "You _are_ Dakota, right?"

She blanched, her mind immediately jumping to a million terrible conclusions as to how this girl knew her name. "Uhm… yeah?"

"Oh, thank god," she exclaimed, pulling off of the road entirely and shoving the passenger door open. "Get in! Paul sent me!"

The list of terrible conclusions narrowed, but got substantially more nauseating. Dakota approached the truck, but stood beside the cab rather than entering it. "I don't mean to sound rude, but… who are you? I thought I'd met everyone."

"Oh, I'm Kim! I'm Jared's im—girlfriend! The guys had a _situation_ pop up, so Paul asked me to come get you. I just had to wait until I got out of school," the girl smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders. "Which is why I'm so late. I'm so sorry."

"He didn't tell me anything," Dakota mused, reluctantly climbing into the truck. "Why not just tell me to get on the bus?"

Kim put the dinosaur of a truck back into gear and made a wide U-turn in the middle of the empty road. "It's better for all of us to be on the reservation right now," she said vaguely.

She wanted to ask why, but it was obvious from the girl's tone that she didn't want to get into it. Instead, she made a mental note to ask Paul, and did her best to pretend the silence in the car wasn't suffocating. Her mind was racing, but she managed to make small talk with Kim all the way to Emily's house.

When they got there, Kim went ahead inside, but Dakota sat on the front porch swing to smoke a cigarette. She was so confused her head was beginning to hurt, and she hoped either Paul or Leah would show up soon. Being at Emily's without either of them was uncomfortable to say the least, and she felt incredibly out of place.

She tried to make her cigarette last as long as possible, but once she'd gotten a lungful of filter smoke, she knew it was time to walk inside. From the smells wafting out of the house, Emily was probably cooking dinner, and it would be rude to just hide out on the porch for however long it was going to take the wolves to finish their business.

With a resigned sigh, Dakota made her way into the little house as well. Emily greeted her with sickening cheer, as usual, and Kim smiled politely from the kitchen. There came a high pitched squeal from the living room, and before she knew it, a little girl came barreling into the entryway and straight into her leg.

"Play! Play with me!" The toddler bellowed, yanking on Dakota's jeans.

"Claire," Emily chided, stirring something in a pot that was probably bigger than she was. "That's not how we ask people to play with us, remember?"

The little girl, Claire, huffed and crossed her arms. "But I wanna play!"

"Then you ask Kota _nicely_ if she'll play with you. It's not nice to yell at people."

Wide eyed, Claire looked up at the blonde girl with her bottom lip dangling dangerously over her little chin. "Will you play with me?"

She felt the eyes of the other two girls in the house burning into her forehead, and even though she absolutely abhorred small children, Dakota found herself being dragged into the living room by a pair of chubby hands.

"We drum! Uncle Paw drum with me, so you drum too!" The toddler declared, pointing to about seven pots she had placed on the floor between the couch and the TV.

"Oh, that sounds fun," Dakota tried her best to play along. "Is Aunt Emily okay with drumming?"

"I don't mind it," the woman called out from the kitchen. "It keeps her occupied while Quil's gone, so I can handle it."

"We drum! Can you play music, too?" Claire settled herself amongst the pots, her grubby little hands wrapped tightly around two wooden spoons.

"Play music?" That was directed at Emily, who was wiping her hands on her apron as she walked into the living room.

"Paul usually plays some of the CDs you leant him for her to try to play along with. I don't exactly like it, but Claire loves it. Don't ask me why."

Immediately, Dakota's general distaste for the whole situation lessened a bit. At least the kid had decent taste in music. "Oh, yeah! I've got music, too! Do you want to hear Uncle Paul's music or do you want to hear some new stuff?"

"New! New! New! New!" She squealed happily, waving her spoons in the air. Emily gave an almost inaudible sigh before slipping back into the kitchen, shooting the two of them a small smile before she was out of sight.

"Alright, new it is," Dakota said as she settled in next to the child on the rug. "Can I show you some of my favorite music?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"

After she'd found a playlist she deemed somewhat child-friendly, she pulled the headphones from her phone and turned the volume on full blast. She might've had to put up with a screeching booger-machine, but at least she could listen to music without feeling guilty about it.

When the music started, she allowed herself to sing along while Claire beat the hell out of the poor pots in front of them. It felt nice being able to annoy Emily Young in her own home, and it was something to do to pass the time until Paul returned and she could bombard him with questions.

0o0

Paul hadn't felt so miserable since before he'd started to phase. He was so scared to tell Dakota, so very unsure as to what her reaction would be. The day before, he'd worried himself sick about how to tell her about the imprint. Now, he had another huge piece of news to break, and he still hadn't the slightest clue how to go about any of it.

"I'd suggest getting her alone and telling her," Jared suggested, yanking his t-shirt over his head as the remainder of the pack prepared to go inside Emily's.

"How do I say it, though? ' _Hey, your best friend and her little brother abandoned their real family to go play bodyguard to some girl pregnant with a vampire baby'_? That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

"She's not gonna be happy about it regardless, so you might as well get it over with."

Paul cursed under his breath, buttoning his shorts and following Sam across Emily's dark yard. Through the kitchen window, he could see the mother hen herself stirring something in a huge pot, but otherwise the house seemed quiet. For a second, he began to worry about whether or not his imprint had agreed to ride with Kim, but those thoughts were immediately swept aside when the girl in question stepped out onto the front porch.

"Someone come get this child," she whispered exasperatedly, pointing over her shoulder. "I can't do it anymore, I'm about to rip my hair out. Please. Help."

Quil immediately jogged past them all and slipped into the house, and Dakota sighed loudly in relief. The others said their hellos to her and made their way inside as well, but Paul lingered outside. Jared _had_ said to get her alone, and to get it over with. _Two birds with one stone,_ he thought.

She lowered herself onto the top porch step and immediately lit a cigarette. Ignoring the smell, Paul settled down beside her, wondering what he should open with. There was no easy way to begin such a strange conversation, but if he waited much longer, he'd probably lose his opportunity.

"So, what wolf-business did we have to attend to today?" She leaned on the porch railing on her other side, putting some space between them. He tried not to let her harsh tone or body language bother him as he searched for his words.

"We kinda had a shift in the ranks," he muttered, unsure of what to say next. "Some of the pack decided to… leave, I guess?"

"Wait, what?" Dakota sat straight up, turning to face him. "Who left? Why? Where the hell did they go?"

 _Here goes nothing._ "Remember Jacob, and how I told you he's kinda obsessed with that leech lover?"

"He's the mopey one, right?"

"Yeah, that's Jake. Well, we went to the Cullens yesterday to… talk about the treaty, and he wanted to see Bella to make sure she hadn't been changed. Come to find out, she's not a vampire yet."

"Well, isn't that good news?" She brought her cigarette to her lips, eyebrows furrowed together.

"It gets worse. She's not a vampire, but she's _pregnant_ by one."

There was a long silence before Dakota spoke again.

"How in all hell is that even physically possible? Like, don't you need blood to, y'know, spring one in the first place?"

Paul made a face, not at all wanting to imagine the finer workings of bloodsucker reproductive organs. "That's beside the point, Kota. It gets worse."

"Shit, you can't blame me for being curious. Continue, though," she blew out a cloud of smoke forcefully. "Somehow, she's pregnant, and…?"

"Well, Sam wanted to destroy it. We have no idea what kind of threat it could pose to the reservation, so he figured it'd be best to go ahead and kill it before it had the chance to cause any harm."

"Which would require tearing her ass up, and Jacob flipped a titty," she guessed. "Does that mean you guys spent the whole day trying to get him to go along with it?"

"Not exactly. I told you before that Jacob's the rightful Alpha of the pack, right? Well, yesterday he decided he was going to take advantage of that and split from the pack. The only problem is, he didn't split alone."

"Well, who else went?"

"When it first happened, only Seth followed him. This morning, though, Leah didn't show up for her patrol. Sure enough, when Sam sent some of us to check the Cullens' perimeter, she was there. We can't hear their thoughts in the pack mind anymore, but we know they're okay."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait," Dakota stammered, her nonchalance about the whole situation disappearing into thin air. "Seth _and_ Leah? Where are they staying, the Cullens'? What about Sue? Oh, my god, what the fuck are they thinking?"

"That's exactly why we were gone so long today. Sue asked us to try and convince them to come home. We were out there for hours, and they still won't come back. Seth's got it in his head that the bloodsuckers are people, and apparently Leah's just glad to be away from Sam. Neither one of them seems to give a shit how their mom feels."

"Oh, Leah," she breathed, running her free hand down her face. "What the fuck are you _doing?_ "

"That's what we're all trying to figure out. That's why I ended up not being able to pick you up today. Sam wanted all of us there in case something went wrong, and I didn't have time to explain it all in a text."

"I'm not mad at you," Dakota said, still rubbing her face. "Right now, I'm mad at Leah. She knows good and damn well that Sue needs them, and what does she do? She decides to be a selfish fucking princess just because she couldn't look at her ex-boyfriend anymore? What in the _fuck?_ "

"What makes you say it like that?" Paul definitely agreed with every word that left her mouth, but the way she was talking wasn't the tone she typically used when it came to her best friend.

"I get that she doesn't want to be around him—shit, it makes _me_ nauseous seeing him with Emily, so I can only imagine how badly it bothers her. But she's made it through the past two years of it, and right now is when being able to protect the ones she loves counts the most. Instead of doing something about it, she's running away.

"I've always wanted her to nut up when it comes to Sam; he's a dick and what he did to her was fucking awful. This isn't what I meant, though. I wanted her to tell him off like he deserves, pull herself together and come out of it even stronger than before. Not side with the enemy and abandon her family because she thinks that's the only way out. I'm disappointed in her."

He was taken aback by her rant. From the way she was talking, one would've thought she'd been involved with the pack since day one. Hearing her voice her alliance so bluntly was unexpected, but not at all unwelcome. In reality, he'd expected her to demand to leave, to run to Leah's side and avoid the rest of the pack indefinitely.

"I think we all are, Kota," Paul agreed, leaning his elbows on his knees. "But it looks like there's nothing we can really do but wait at this point. Wait for them to attack, wait for the baby to do whatever the hell it's gonna do—we're just _waiting_."

Dakota rose to her feet, pulling an especially long drag from her cigarette. "Well, I guess it's time to get comfortable. Let's go inside; I'm hungry, and I'm guessing you are, too."

And with that, she ground the rest of her cigarette into the sole of her shoe, tucked it in the side, and opened the door. Paul hopped up and followed her closely, trying to figure out how his imprint had so easily accepted what should've been devastating news.

It was no secret that Leah was her favorite, imprint connection or otherwise. If Sam hadn't warned him once, he'd warned him ten times to not try and get between the two of them. He said it would get ugly, and fast. That's why he was so terrified to let Dakota in on the big scandal. Her reaction wasn't at all what he was expecting, and although he couldn't place why, it was incredibly unsettling.

0o0

Once they'd finished dinner, Claire had begun to scream and demand that Dakota play with her again. Paul had come to her rescue, claiming that it was the little girl's bedtime, and that he had to take her new friend home, anyway. The toddler had pouted for all of thirty seconds before Quil swept her up, spouting the beginnings of a bedtime story as he carried her down the hallway.

Although she made sure that her face betrayed nothing, Dakota made it a point to squeeze Paul's hand in thanks under the table. What she hadn't counted on was his reluctance to release hers, and she found herself being dragged out of Emily's house with only one free hand to wave goodbye with. She tried to ignore the pang of disappointment she felt when he released her by his truck, making his way around the front as she climbed in the passenger seat.

While he searched his pockets for his keys, she pulled her camera from her bag and began to adjust the view as best as she could in the little cab. When she was satisfied, she flicked on the flash and pointed it in Paul's direction, waiting for him to glance her way so she could catch him off-guard.

"Hey, Paul," she whispered. "Look at me."

Just like she expected, he whipped around in his seat instantly, and she took the shot. He jerked his head back at the flash, grumbling under his breath as she laughed at his expression in the photo. It wasn't her most technical shot, not by any means, but she could already tell it would be one of her favorites. It was the only picture she'd gotten of him that wasn't 100% photogenic, and she loved it.

"Lemme see it," he demanded, trying to lean his head over the top of the camera. "C'mon, lemme see!"

"Nope!" She quickly tapped the power button, cradling it to her chest until she heard the _ding_ that signaled it was completely off.

Paul cranked up the truck, pretending to glare at her out of the corner of his eye. It didn't fool her, for the small smile tugging at his lips was painfully obvious even in the dark. She let him keep pretending, though, simply because she didn't want to injure his pride any more than she already had.

The two rode in silence away from Emily's home, the clock on the dashboard showing that it was merely 9:00. Once they got onto the main road, she began to wonder if they were going to bring up what had happened the night before at all. Her anger with him was completely gone; his reason for not picking her up had been a very understandable one, and she was actually angrier with herself and Leah than anyone else. She shouldn't have overreacted, and her best friend shouldn't have started the issue in the first place.

Of course, Dakota was upset with herself for being so hard on Leah, but at the same time she knew that what the older girl had done was incredibly selfish and probably not thought out in the least. When she'd first been told that her best friend had to listen to every order spouted out by the oh-so-mighty Sam Uley, she had been livid. After spending some of her free time looking into the legends, however, she was beginning to understand the importance of the pack as a whole.

Dividing amongst themselves because of old flings and falsely placed admiration was a recipe for disaster, with their loved ones' lives at stake. To say she was disappointed in Leah was an understatement, but she didn't want to dwell on that situation right then and there.

Lost in her thoughts, she leaned her head on the cool window and watched the dark forest whip past them. They didn't have much of a drive, but with the events of the night before going completely unmentioned, it felt much longer. When they finally pulled into her empty driveway, Dakota decided to go out on a limb and break the awkward silence.

"Do you want to come inside?"

Paul looked a bit surprised at her offer, but wasted no time in accepting it. As they walked into the house, she could feel the tension mounting. The last time they'd been alone there together, she'd downed her inhibitions with the alcohol and mustered up the nerve to ask the questions she'd been dying to for weeks. Would she be half as brave without the heat of liquor in her throat?

"I'm gonna grab a drink," she declared, slipping her shoes off as she walked to the kitchen. "You want something?"

"You sure you should be drinking again, Kota?" It was a terrible attempt at humor, but she found herself chuckling anyway. Things had never felt so awkward between the two of them, and all she wanted was for the tension to ease.

Instead of giving him a response, she just grabbed a couple cans of soda from the fridge and tossed one his way. While he fumbled with the tab, she allowed herself to watch him. For someone with such hulking muscles, he was truly struggling, and his eyebrows began to furrow together in frustration. When he finally managed to pop it open, he looked up at her and held out his can victoriously, like he'd won some kind of competition. She just chuckled and made her way up the stairs, gesturing for him to follow.

She liked him. It was easier to admit than she thought it would be, and allowing herself to think it without her own subconscious tearing her apart was so very freeing. Her only worry was that she would end up just like the waitress at Rosie's, something for him to pass the time with once or twice before moving on to something new.

The only thing that kept her hopes intact was the way he'd acted the night before. She might've been drunk, but she definitely wasn't blackout drunk; Paul had promised he wasn't going anywhere, had said he only wanted what she wanted. As she led him down the little hallway to her room, she could only hope he meant what he'd said.

"Welcome to my cave," Dakota said as she swung open her bedroom door, immensely glad she'd cleaned it earlier in the week. "Feel free to snoop to your heart's content."

Paul just stood in the doorway, eyes wide as he took in her walls. All four of them were covered practically from the baseboards to the ceiling with pictures that she'd taken over the years, and as she watched him approach a cluster of them, she wondered if she'd been a bit excessive with it. If a stranger were to come in there, it would definitely look like she stalked the Clearwaters.

"Why aren't there any with you in them?" He asked, sitting on her bed and taking in the wall behind her headboard.

"I'm always the one taking them," she said with a shrug. "It's just easier that way."

"There's so many of them… how long have you been doing this?" He finally tore his eyes from the walls and turned to her, genuine curiosity on his face.

"Years," she answered, looking around the room herself. "Dr. Gwen recommended it, said it would help 'address my own issues' and other such shit. I don't know if it's helped me understand myself much better, but I ended up really loving it regardless. Any time I want to relive something, I've pretty much always got photos of it. It's like time-traveling, at least to me."

Paul turned to her with another one of his cryptic expressions, his eyes burning with the same intensity as the night she'd first met him. Then, it had scared her. Now, she'd practically become addicted to the way it made her heart pound and breath quicken.

"Why do you look at me like that?" She finally asked, settling down beside him on the edge of the bed and pulling her cigarettes from her hoodie pocket.

"Like what?"

Dakota lit a smoke, shrugging. "I can't explain it. You just look at me different sometimes. It confuses me."

" _You_ confuse me," he replied simply. "In a good way, though."

"There's a good way to be confused?" She reached for the ashtray on her nightstand, but he grabbed it for her and set it on the bed between them.

"Sort of. It's hard to explain. You never do or say what I expect you to do, I guess."

"And that's a good thing?"

He gave a low chuckle, his mouth turning up at the corners quite charmingly. "It can be."

"Give me an example." Mentally, she crossed her fingers that he would address the elephant in the room. She wasn't sure if she had the stomach to do it herself.

"Well, I don't know how much you remember from last night," Dakota practically sighed in relief as Paul brought it up. "But it was pretty… unexpected, in a good way."

"I remember," she mumbled, looking at the ember on her cigarette to avoid looking at him in hopes of keeping her voice even. "But how do you consider finding out I'm absolutely batshit nuts 'good'?"

"Because it meant you were finally letting me in, Kota. And you're not crazy—everyone's got their own shit going on, you just got help for yours. I don't think you're batshit at all."

"Well, that's a relief. I woke up this morning ready to kick my own ass for throwing all that on you at once."

"You tell me everything that you need to, whenever you need to," he said seriously. "I wasn't kidding when I told you I wasn't going anywhere. There's nothing you could say or do that would change that."

"I pretty much figured that out when I puked all over my living room floor and you didn't run for the hills," she gave a weak laugh. "Still, I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry I, uh, attacked you, too."

"Saying you 'attacked' me implies that I didn't want you to do what you did, which is definitely not the case." Paul flashed one of his ridiculously mischievous grins, and she couldn't help but shoot him a small one of her own in return.

"When you said you only wanted what I was willing to give, did you really mean that? Be honest." Her stomach was twisting itself into knots as the words came out, and they only got tighter as she waited for his response. That was the one question that had been plaguing her mind since she'd woken up that morning, and it had taken all of her leftover nerve to finally voice it.

"You want my honest answer?"

She nodded solemnly, scared that if she spoke again her voice would waver.

Paul looked just as nervous as she was as he began to speak, which was definitely uncharacteristic of him. "Well, of course I have my own selfish wants; I think everyone does. The thing is, I can look past what I want because I'm more worried about what _you_ want. It's… it's complicated. But at the end of the day, all I want is for you to be happy, no matter how it makes me feel. I'll be anything you need me to be, just so long as I can be near you, and as long as you're happy."

Dakota was unable to say anything in return, her words lodged in her throat. She'd never expected him to say anything like that, and it was like her brain quit working the second he stopped speaking. His light eyes were searching her face fervently, but still she couldn't string her thoughts into anything coherent.

As his words played in a loop in her mind, she wondered why she'd ever compared him to Samuel Uley. He was nothing like his friend, not where it really mattered. His words were nothing but genuine; his honesty was plainly written across his face. She wanted to reach out for him, just to see if he was actually sitting in front of her or if her mind had been playing some elaborate trick on her this entire time.

"So if I tell you that I'm not sure when I'll be able to give you what you want, you won't be angry?"

"Not at all, Kota. I'll wait as long as you need."

"That means the world to me, you know." She wanted to throw her arms around his neck and hold him close, to thank him in a million and one ways for being as good as he was to her.

Instead, she got up long enough to put in a movie and then crawled back into bed, pulling him to lie down beside her to watch. She knew she wouldn't be brave enough to try and kiss him again, so she settled with resting her head on his arm. Much to her delight, he understood the gesture and gently slipped his arm beneath her shoulders, pulling her closer as they stared at the screen.

It wouldn't seem like much to anyone else, especially in comparison to the way she'd thrown herself at him the night before, but Dakota was content. Not just with their situation, but with her life in general. School was going well enough, her mom was back on her game, and she had Paul—caring, goofy, understanding Paul. The only thing in her life that was slightly out of place at that point was Leah, but she had ideas of how to fix that, too.


	13. Plans in Motion

**A/N: Thank you to all of my steady reviewers who make writing this so much more fun, and a special thank you to** _ **reader-chic-2**_ **for kicking my ass into gear with this last chapter. Now, it's not my favorite—there were a lot of things I had trouble getting just the way I wanted them, and eventually I just decided that an update at all would suffice and posted this. If any of you have any suggestions, or ideas about this story or what you want to see happen, let me know in the reviews or PM me! I like constructive criticism, and I do my best to take it all to heart. Thank you guys so much, and please know that at this point, I'm not only writing this story for me; I'm also writing it for all of you who have supported me from the very beginning. Without further ado, here's chapter 13.**

Everything smelled awful. No matter where she was, no matter how long she ran, all she could smell was _vampire, vampire, vampire._ It was nauseating. All Leah really wanted to do was go home, take a hot shower, and crawl into her own bed; that wasn't possible, though. She knew how furious her mother had to be with both of her children, but was certain she was in the most trouble. It was her responsibility to keep Seth in line and instead of stopping him from running off after Jake, she ran off, too.

Of course, she was ecstatic to be away from Sam and Emily's sickening imprint—it was her whole reason for running in the first place. Yet, after the pack had made an appearance on their side of the treaty line begging the Clearwaters to return home, the oldest of the two couldn't help but feel like she'd made a grand mistake. However, it was too late to turn back. She'd made her decision, and it was time to stick to her guns for the first time in a long time.

Esme had tried on several occasions to get the girl to come inside and eat an actual meal, but Leah couldn't bear the smell long enough to do so. Instead, she stayed in her wolf form, choking back the bile in her throat whenever she remembered she needed to hunt to silence the growling in her stomach. Raw meat wasn't appealing regardless of what form she was in, but anything beat having to sit inside of that depressing, rancid house with a bunch of leeches she couldn't stand.

Within twenty-four hours of being in Jacob's pack, she realized she would probably have to get over her intense hatred of the Cullens; but that wasn't the day it was going to happen, and once again, she shook the morning dew from her fur and stalked into the forest to catch a meal. It was hard to hunt when the vampires had scared away all of the game in the area, so she had to run much farther out than she preferred in search of something to eat.

 _Fuckin' bloodsuckers, gotta make everything difficult as shit, can't even eat without having to take the fuckin' scenic route._

 _Whoa, Leah,_ Seth commented, just getting off of his first solo patrol from the night before. _They can't help it, and you can come inside and just get something to eat. Esme's a great cook!_

 _If you think I'm setting foot in that godforsaken house, you're dumber than I thought you were._

 _Fine, fine! Have fun chasing rabbits, sis. I'm gonna go get a sandwich._

 _Oh, fuck y—_

Before she could finish verbally assaulting her little brother, he phased out of the pack mind. Thankfully, Jake was inside with his unrequited lover, leaving the oldest Clearwater to her own thoughts. It was strange, being on all fours and not worrying about having to feel someone's pity or see Emily in ways she never wanted to. As she trotted farther and farther away from the Cullen residence, she was able to remember that was why she'd left in the first place: freedom.

A few miles out, she spotted a lone elk limping amongst the trees, and decided to put it out of its misery. Otherwise she'd just have to keep going until she came across something else, which could take hours considering how little game she had seen. Once she'd lowered herself to the ground, she did her very best to tune out her human thoughts and allow the inner wolf to take over, in hopes that the shift of consciousness would make the process less sickening.

She had just prepared to sprint when she felt Seth phase back in, a sense of urgency flooding from his mind. He didn't have to form any coherent thoughts, for she skimmed quickly through his memories to see what was wrong. Nothing seemed too out of place until she spotted Kate's light grey station wagon making its way down the Cullens' long driveway, none other than Dakota in the driver's seat.

 _Son of a fucking bitch,_ she exclaimed, spinning on her heel and running as fast as she could back to the house. _Seth, don't let that red-eyed bastard near her._

 _I don't think Nate would hurt her, but okay._

 _I don't trust him. Keep Dakota away from him. I'm coming._

Her meal long forgotten, Leah dug her paws into the ground and shoved as hard as she could, hoping she would make it back to the home before her best friend decided to barge through the front door looking for her. The less of a chance Nate had to interact with her, the better. He made Leah uneasy, and she didn't want to risk anything.

Once she made it to the edge of the forest, she phased back in and yanked her clothes on as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the layer of grime covering her skin. As she stepped out of the underbrush and onto the finely manicured grass, she was able to sigh in relief as she saw Seth talking to Dakota right beside her mom's car. She was safe.

"Ah, just the lady I was coming to speak with," the blonde girl called out once she'd spotted her friend coming their way. "You look rough, Leah-Bean."

"What are you doing here? How did you know to come here?"

Dakota held up both of her hands. "Whoa, whoa, breathe. Paul told me what was going on, and I decided to try and knock some sense into you."

"I'm not going back, Kota," Leah declared. "And you shouldn't be here. It's not safe."

"If it's not safe for me to be here, then why are you here defending them?"

"It's… it's the right thing to do," Leah lied. "And I didn't want to leave Seth by himself."

The smaller girl gestured to the youngest Clearwater exaggeratedly. "He morphs into a giant fucking _wolf,_ Leah. He's not ten."

"He's my little brother!"

"He might as well be grown at this point! And he's got Jacob, right? So really, Leah, what the hell are you doing?"

The older girl sighed in annoyance. "Kota, you know I love you to pieces, but now really isn't the time for this shit. I've got things I need to take care of, and I can't have you running around here trying to get yourself killed."

"How about taking care of your mom, huh? She's all alone in that house, scared to death that you or Seth are gonna get slaughtered because neither of you know where the fuck your priorities are! You need to come home, protect your family!"

Seth, who had started becoming increasingly uncomfortable, backed away slowly before slipping into the house again, leaving his sister to handle Dakota on her own. He'd never been very good with her moods, even though he'd always tried his best to be understanding. To him, everything could be talked out and fixed as long as you had the right attitude, so the Moreno girl's inability to compromise or see things from another perspective really got under his skin.

"Nothing is going to happen to them," Leah growled, crossing her arms in an attempt to hide the fact that they were shaking. "No one here poses a threat to anyone."

"Is that why you _literally_ just told me it wasn't safe here? What the fuck, Leah? C'mon, I know you don't like being around Sam—shit, I hate him just as much as you do—but is that really enough reason to abandon everyone back home? 'Cause you didn't want to see him hugging Emily? Jesus Christ."

"You don't know anything about what's going on with that, Dakota. Don't try and pretend that you do. It's something completely beyond you right now." _Just wait until Paul tells you about imprinting. Then you'll understand why I'm so bitter._

"I stood beside you through everything, Leah, and I know who you are. This isn't you! My Leah puts her family and friends first, protects what's hers, puts her emotions to the side while she takes care of her business. You're not my Leah right now."

Leah began to tremble slightly harder. Dakota's words were getting to her, and though she knew there was some sense to them, there was literally no way to turn back. The decision had already been made. "I'm doing what I have to do, and I don't want to talk about this anymore. Go home, Dakota. You shouldn't be here."

Although she wasn't an intimidating figure whatsoever, the young girl pulled herself to full height, jutting out her chin challengingly. "You don't have a choice, Lee-Lee. You're going to talk to me about this one way or another."

At the use of Sam's old nickname for her, her trembles turned into full-on violent shaking. Anger flooded through her mind and body, urging her to release control. "Go. Home," Leah choked out, clenching her teeth tightly. "Go. Now."

"Not until you get over yourself and go home, too," Dakota spat back. Her face was as hard as stone as she watched her best friend begin to shake so vigorously that her outline began to blur.

Even though the logical part of her brain was screaming at her to stop, Leah had lost control of her body. The sound of shredding fabric and the thud of heavy paws on the ground echoed throughout the clearing, and her inner wolf took over. In that moment, Dakota wasn't her best friend—she was prey.

Out of her peripherals, Leah saw the front door of the Cullens' home swing open and their sickly-sweet stench assaulted her senses, but she didn't completely lose her focus on the blonde girl a few yards away. As her anger drove her forward, however, she saw a flash of bone white and dark brown shoot in front of her, snatching Dakota as it went. She hadn't managed to take three steps after them before she felt the weight of her brother and Jake barrel into her ribs, throwing her into the tree line.

 _Leah, stop!_ Jacob bellowed through the pack mind, his tone laced heavily with the weight of an Alpha command. _Don't fucking move!_

 _Leah, what were you thinking?_ Seth whined, slowly backing away from his sister when he realized the command had registered. _That's your best friend! And an imprint! If you had hurt her, Paul would have killed you!_

Slowly, the older Clearwater's inner wolf began to quiet and she regained control of her own mind and body again. When the realization of what she'd just tried to do really hit her, she whined so ear-piercingly loud, the vampires that had stepped onto the front porch pulled faces of discomfort. With increasing panic, she looked around the area for Dakota to make sure she was okay.

 _Where'd she go? Who got her? Where did they go?_

 _Nate grabbed her. We'll find them. You stay right here,_ Jacob demanded.

Leah just nodded her head, trying not to think of all of the terrible situations she could've just put her best friend in. Not only did she try to rip her apart, she'd thrown her into the very arms of the one vampire who she'd wanted the young girl to avoid. She dropped her head shamefully as Seth and Jake began to follow the scent trail, hoping she hadn't screwed things up as terribly as she knew she had.

0o0

One second she was waiting for one of the wolves to knock her out of Leah's path, and the next she felt herself swept literally off of her feet and enveloped in pure cold. The scenery passed by so incredibly quickly that Dakota felt her stomach lurch, trying to push out food that wasn't there. Everything was blurry and green, and when the motion finally stopped and she found herself on her own two feet again, the world was still spinning around her.

"Oh, what the fuck," she groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm gonna barf, I'm gonna barf."

"Need me to hold your hair back?"

Instantly, her eyes shot open again. Her vision was still swirling, but she would recognize that gravelly voice anywhere. " _Nathan?_ "

"In the flesh," Nate chuckled, his face slowly coming into focus. "It's good to see you too, Kota."

"What the hell… oh, shit!" Once she'd regained control of her eyesight, the first thing she noticed on what should've been a completely familiar face was a pair of deep red eyes.

Instinctually, she stumbled backwards as quickly as she could, tripping over the undergrowth. Before she could hit the ground, however, she was captured in stony, cold arms once again. "I wouldn't suggest trying to move so quickly," he joked, positioning her upright. "You're just gonna keep falling over."

"Please don't bite me," Dakota exclaimed, taking much slower steps backwards once she was able to. "I don't want to live forever, not at all, fuck that, oh god—"

"Kota, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you. I just saved your ass for a reason, y'know."

"Shit, sorry. I should be thanking you, shouldn't I?" She ran her hands over her face in exasperation, infinitely confused with the entire situation. _Is this why Leah brought him up the other day?_

"Probably, but it's not necessary. If I hadn't grabbed you, none of the others would've gotten there in time. What the hell were you doing, anyway?"

"Trying to piss her off," Dakota admitted, beginning to focus on her temples rather than her entire face. "Figured if she felt like we were all against her, she'd come home to set shit straight."

"You came here with the intention of getting your werewolf best friend to try and kill you?" Nate's thick eyebrows shot up to his hairline, his newly-handsome face expressing how stupid he thought she was.

She sighed heavily, looking around her to try and get a grip on her surroundings. "That wasn't exactly the game plan, but… okay, that's enough of that. What about you? Why are you here? What the hell happened to you, Nate?"

"Oh, I got a haircut, did you notice?" His incredulous expression had disappeared, and was replaced with a face-splitting grin. It was weird, seeing him look so good. He hadn't exactly been ugly before, but the changes to his facial structure were still obvious to her.

"You know what I me—"

Before she got a chance to finish her sentence, however, two large wolves came bounding in front of her, teeth bared at Nate as they growled low in their throats. She could tell which one was Seth simply because of his gangly legs, which meant the other, darker one was Jacob. They had effectively trapped her between them, slowly ushering her away from Nate.

"Guys, calm down," she exclaimed, reaching out and getting a firm grip on Seth's beige fur. "He's my… friend."

Dakota didn't want to get into the details of how she knew Nate with them, but she could practically see the apprehension on their lupine faces. Part of her wanted to just get it out in the open with them, but the rest of her wouldn't allow it under any circumstances. Instead, she just shot a pointed look Seth's way and hoped he understood what she meant by it.

"Well, I guess you're in good _paws,_ " Nate tried to tease, glancing over his shoulder the way they had come. "So I'll head back to the house. I'll see you later, Kota! We've gotta catch up soon!"

Jacob growled deeply at that, but the red-eyed vampire just smiled a little wider and turned on his heel, disappearing in a flash. The wolves then turned their attention back to the blonde girl between them, who still had her hand raised in a goodbye wave.

"Are we far from the house?" She directed her question at Seth, who nodded his massive head.

Instead of just pulling herself onto his shoulder blades, she turned to Jacob for permission. Asking Sam was something she absolutely refused to do, but she had nothing against the rightful Alpha. The darker wolf nodded his head as well, and Seth dropped his front half closer to the ground in order to make it easier for Dakota to climb on.

Once she was situated, they took off in the direction of the Cullens' home. It didn't take very long, but it was nowhere near as fast as it was with Nate, which she was incredibly grateful for. The discomfort in her stomach had yet to completely subside, and one more trip at vampire speed would've sealed her fate.

The trees began to clear, and Dakota was able to spot the house and her mom's car. A couple of the Cullens that she remembered from school were standing on the porch, Alice and Emmett, but they did nothing but wave politely. She figured Edward was inside taking care of his ballooning wife, and that the others had other things to worry about.

Seth gently let her down, snuffling his nose in her hair in what she assumed was a goodbye. She quickly scanned the area for Leah, but didn't see the older girl. _Good,_ she thought, _let her stew for a bit—she'll come back soon enough._ She turned and said goodbye to Jacob, waved to the remaining Cullens on the porch, and climbed into her mom's car. Things hadn't exactly worked out the way she'd planned, but the general idea of her plan had succeeded. All she had to do now was sit and wait.

0o0

Most of Paul's day passed without incident. He had the early shift patrolling with Jared, which ended around noon. After the two of them had taken a short nap in Emily's living room, they ended up playing video games most of the day. When it got close to time for Dakota to get off of work, Paul clapped his best friend on the shoulder and began to get himself ready.

He took a little longer in the shower than he normally did, making sure he was scrubbed from head to toe at least twice before he turned the lukewarm water off. As he stood in front of the mirror brushing his teeth, he couldn't stop himself from smiling widely at his reflection. Dakota might not have exactly leapt into his arms the night before, but it was very obvious she was beginning to open up, and the prospect itself excited him.

Humming under his breath as he made his way back to his room to get dressed, he realized he needed to tell her about the imprint, and soon. A crazy idea popped into his head, and as he dug through his closet in search of something acceptable, he decided he would go through with it: he was going to take her out to dinner tonight, one way or another, and tell her.

Paul knew full well that it might not go exactly as he planned, but he tried to stifle his nerves. Dakota had said she was terrified of being left, and telling her that their souls were practically intertwined by the spirits should calm that, shouldn't it? He could only hope as he buttoned his shirt and pulled on one of his nicer pair of dark jeans, actually taking the time to slip on socks before he stepped into his shoes.

"Someone looks nice," Emily noted with a smile as he made his way to the door. "Going somewhere special?"

Normal Paul would've scoffed and rolled his eyes at her. Current Paul just grinned widely, tucking his borderline sister into a tight hug before continuing on his way. He was too happy. If what he'd seen with Dakota was any real glimpse into who she was, his wild idea should get things rolling the way he so desperately needed them to.

"I'm grabbing Kota, I'll be back later, okay? See you guys!" He didn't even wait for a response as he closed the door behind him, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as he made his way to his truck.

Before he pulled out of the driveway, he grabbed one of the CDs of Dakota's he had yet to listen to and slipped it into the radio, glancing at the title on the spine: _Volumes (Favorites)._ The melody was softer than what he was used to in her collection, but as soon as the lyrics began, his fingers halted their lazy drumming on the steering wheel as he drove.

" _I've been erased from the old me. Can you tell me again? Can you hold me if I won't lay 'til the morning sun? It pulls you out, and takes you under."_

The heavy style Paul was used to on her CDs came as he pulled out onto the highway in the form of more words that made his throat catch, but he continued listening.

" _I thought you'd hate me, but I needed you. I thought you'd hate me, but you needed truth. I thought you'd hate me—I thought you knew."_

A glance down at the speedometer caused Paul to lift his lead foot from the gas, letting the car coast back down to a normal speed. He wished he could do the same to the thundering in his chest.

" _I thought you knew that we're cut out of the same cloth. Feels like we're pages of a story that we can't stop, and now I won't replace you with another thread; take one more step, I'll jump with you."_

He felt like a schoolgirl, assuming all of the CDs she'd given him had some sort of message in them. It was impossible to shake the thought, though, for every word sung or screamed was reverberating in his head.

" _It's hard enough, you standing next to me, your scent reviving moments spent with you. I need to know that you believe in this, or just release them into déjà vu."_

Paul had to skip the song, forcing himself to drive a solid ten under the speed limit as he made his way to the little town. The next few on the disc was nowhere near as unsettling, and he found it much easier to concentrate as he passed the sign that announced his arrival to Forks.

He had to tell her about the imprint. There was no way around it. He was in too deep to pretend he didn't feel his wolf clawing at the surface every time he was near her, to go back to the time when he could simply patrol her house and be satisfied when he got a glimpse of her walking past her bedroom window. It was high time to let her in on the biggest secret he'd held so far.

Dakota wasn't stupid. If he didn't tell her soon, one of the guys was bound to slip up again around her. She was bound to start asking questions. The last thing Paul needed was for someone else to explain how when he first saw her, his world imploded and recreated itself in the form of deep brown eyes. He wanted to be the one to tell her that he thought her freckles mapped out constellations, that her long, little fingers held more comfort for him than anything else in the world. He wasn't going to screw this up—he couldn't live with himself if he did.

As he made a right onto Johnson Street, he stopped the music entirely and checked for her mom's car in the parking lot of the little gas station. When he didn't spot it, he realized Kate must've dropped her daughter off at work that day, which he was incredibly grateful for. He might've looked a little bit crazy otherwise.

Paul pulled into a parking space and checked the time before killing the engine. She got off in five minutes. Trying not to fuss too long over his hair or anything in case she was watching, he hopped out of the car and made his way to the door. He took a deep breath as he swung it open, however, and all of the thoughts that had previously been muddling his brain disappeared in an instant.

Vampire. All Paul could smell was vampire.


	14. Breaking Walls

Dakota was stocking the cigarette shelf above the counter, balanced precariously on the top step of a small ladder. When the bell above the door jingled loudly, she merely hollered out a greeting and went back to what she was doing; she got off soon, and if she didn't restock her brand of cigarettes, there wouldn't be any in the shelf if she came by to get a pack or two.

Whoever came in began to charge down the aisles, their footsteps thundering throughout the store. She tried not to roll her eyes as she unloaded the last carton, not at all understanding why no one seemed to remember how to use their manners in the little town. It wasn't like it was physically taxing to say hello back.

Climbing down from her awkward perch, she gathered the empty cartons and threw them in the trashcan, writing a note for Marnie on the back of a blank receipt to let her know the shelf had been restocked. When she looked up, it was safe to say she was startled by the person leaning over the counter towards her.

"Jesus Christ, Paul," she exclaimed, holding her hand to her chest. "You scared the hell out of me. What're you doing here?"

Paul ignored her question. "Who all came in here today? What did they want?"

"A few kids came in for some blunt wraps—well, cigarillos, but I'm not dumb. And an old man got a couple of lotto tickets and a beer. Why?" She punched her time card in the ancient machine, taking her clock out slip and stuffing it into the trash as well.

When she stood back up, Paul was eyeing her suspiciously. "Where did _you_ go today?"

 _Ah, shit. Should've known._ "Don't get mad."

"Where did you go, Dakota?"

He never called her by her full name anymore, so to say it was unsettling was an understatement. "Oh, fuckin' hell," she muttered in frustration. "Can we talk about this somewhere else?"

A small vein in his forehead was threatening to explode, but Paul swallowed heavily and nodded. "My truck."

He didn't even wait for her as she pulled off her apron, instead charging back outside and letting the door swing shut behind him. She called over her shoulder to Marnie that she had clocked out, and hurriedly followed him, her heart in her throat. She should've known he'd smell the place on her. He told her plenty of times how vile vampires smelled, and his kind was literally designed to track them down. As she drug her feet to his little green pick-up, she kicked herself in the ass for not taking a shower after leaving the Cullens'.

When she climbed in the passenger seat, she did her best to avoid looking at him, but it didn't work. His facial features were locked in a tight scowl, but she could see in his eyes what was really going on in his mind: fear.

"Where did you go this morning, Dakota?"

She blew out a long sigh, turning her gaze to her hands clasped in her lap. "I went to see Leah."

"You did _what?_ Alone? Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Hear me out," Dakota exclaimed, turning back to him again. "Of course she didn't listen to you guys yesterday! She loves you guys, yeah, but your opinions don't mean shit to her! I thought if I went to talk to her myself, let her know that even _I_ thought she was being a selfish cow, she'd start to actually realize what she was doing!"

"So instead of giving her a fucking phone call like a normal human being, you decided your best course of action was to waltz into the home of a coven of vampires?"

"I didn't go inside," she protested. "Leah was outside when I got there, but everyone else was in there."

A look of confusion crossed his face before settling into grim realization. "Then why do you smell so strongly of _leech,_ Dakota?"

She could feel herself blanch. "Well, I… I, um…"

"You what?"

"I might've pissed Leah off a little more than I had planned."

"What does that mean?"

"I… I made her phase."

Instantly, Paul began to shake. It wasn't as extreme as the day she'd seen him phase in the Clearwaters' backyard, but it was still quite noticeable. Without opening his mouth, he grabbed her arm and lifted it, his free hand roaming around in what Dakota could only assume was a search for injuries.

"I'm fine," she assured him, thankful that her words slowed his tremors slightly. "She didn't get a chance to get to me."

"Who did?"

That was the question she knew was coming, but was still dreading anyway. "A kid I used to know—he's one of them now, too."

"… _Fuck!_ " He barked, running his hand through his short hair and grabbing a fistful of it. "Fuck."

His reaction made Dakota's heartbeat spike painfully, and she pulled herself as far away from him as she could manage in the small cab. This was a side of Paul that she'd never really seen, and it was directed at no one but her. A small fire erupted in her stomach, and as her eyes began to water, she turned to look out of the passenger window. They hadn't even left the parking lot yet.

"What is it?" She asked quietly, trying to speak around the lump in her throat.

"It's fucking nothing," he snapped back, making her jump.

"You're scaring me, Paul," Dakota answered in a whisper, blinking back tears furiously.

"And you think you didn't scare me? You shouldn't have gone over there, Dakota, it's not fucking safe and you know that! And not only did you throw yourself at the feet of a goddamn vampire coven, you did your best to piss off one of the most moody wolves of the bunch! It was a stupid fucking idea, and it's a damn miracle you didn't get hurt."

"Well, I didn't, but I'm sorry anyway," she opened the door, hopping out of the truck without turning to look at him. "I'll see you later, yeah? I've got that paper to write and shit."

"Wait, what the hell are you doing?" Behind her, she heard his door open and shut as well, and then there were his elephant-like footsteps behind her. "Get in the truck, Kota, it's not safe for you to be walking this late."

"It's like six, Paul," she waved her hand over her shoulder. "I'll be fine."

Without warning, she felt his substantially larger, warmer hand wrap around hers and pull her around to face him. Dakota tried to avoid looking at him, for she could still feel the shaking in his fingers, but his free hand found its way under her chin and tilted it upwards. Paul's face immediately softened, and his trembling stilled.

"Are you crying?" He asked worriedly, his hand not leaving her chin as she shook her head in response. "Then why are your eyes all glassy?"

"I did a lot of hallucinogenic drugs before you came by," she deadpanned, willing her voice to stay steady. "LSD, shrooms, acid. There's a fire-breathing dragon behind you right now, actually."

His face didn't crack out in a smile like she'd hoped it would. Instead, his worried frown deepened. "I hurt your feelings, didn't I?"

With a sniff and a sigh, Dakota relented. "A little bit, yeah. You scared me more than anything, though."

If at all possible, his frown pulled down even farther. "I didn't mean to, Kota. I just, I don't want you going over there alone again, okay? If you really want to go see Leah, I can take you to the treaty line. I just don't trust those veggie vamp fucks, especially not the new guy—I just want you safe."

Although she wasn't incredibly close with Nate anymore, Paul's insinuation got under her skin a little bit. "What's wrong with him?"

"He—he's a newborn. He's still learning to control himself, to hunt animals instead of people. I just don't want you to catch him on a bad day and end up getting hurt, or worse."

"Well, if it weren't for him, I would've been dog chow, but I understand what you mean. I won't go over there alone again, okay?" The lump in her throat had calmed down, and she knew Paul had a valid point. Hell, she'd been scared Nate was going to bite her at first, too. She figured if Paul got the chance to meet him, though, his nerves would calm down a little bit when he realized the newborn didn't want to eat her.

He sighed heavily, pulling her into his warm chest in a tight hug. "Okay, good. I'm sorry I yelled at you, Kota."

"I'm sorry I gave you a small heart attack," she mumbled back, her voice muffled by his shirt. "Wanna go back to my place and hang out? It's getting dark."

Although she couldn't see his face, she could hear the grin in his voice when he spoke. "Actually, I had another idea. We've gotta run by your house first, though."

0o0

"You stay the hell away from her, bloodsucker," Leah spat, grinding her teeth in anger. "If you so much as split a hair on her head, the treaty is broken and you're on a pyre."

"That's rich, coming from you," Nate fired back, gesturing to the front yard. "You almost ripped her apart yourself today, and over what? A little argument? I think it's safe to say she's better off around me than you hotheaded dogs!"

"You have no idea what happened today, and Jacob and Seth would've taken care of her. You shouldn't have gotten involved."

"If I hadn't, you would've hurt her," he stated simply, leaning on the porch railing. "And I don't think her oh-so-glorious _imprint_ would've taken so well to that, would he?"

"You need to leave her the hell alone. He makes her happy, and you're not gonna ruin that." Leah was so mad at herself for what she'd done, but she still felt the need to rip into Nathan, too. He'd been told on several occasions, not only by Jacob but Carlisle as well, that he didn't need to interfere with Dakota and Paul. Yet, unsurprisingly enough, he'd still stuck his nose where it didn't belong.

"I wonder how happy she'd be if she found out he only noticed her in the first place because of some freaky mating ritual you mutts have," Nate pondered aloud. "Because if she's anything like I remember, she won't be too happy about that at all."

"You will not tell her about the imprint," Jacob declared, stomping out of the woods still stark naked. "If you so much as whisper an idea of it in her direction, I will rip you limb from limb."

Leah didn't even bother averting her eyes; at that point, she'd been around so many of her pack brothers in the nude, it was pointless. "Thank you," she murmured as he approached. "I'm going to go take a shower, okay? Seth said he'd cover for me tonight."

Jake nodded briskly, reaching down to the pair of shorts tied around his ankle and pulling them on. Nate watched in amusement on the porch as Leah stomped past him and into the house, glaring all the way. When he figured she was out of earshot, he turned to her Alpha.

"You know, for someone so determined that your 'imprinting' doesn't determine real love, you're pretty worried about me screwing with one."

The shapeshifter's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Wanna know why, leech?"

"Fire away," Nate chuckled. "I'd love to hear your opinion."

"I know Paul, and I know that even without the imprint, he would still care for Dakota the exact same way he does now, even though it might've taken him a little longer to realize it. But you? You only want her because you can't have her, and it's sick."

"Okay then, let's say you're right. Let's say I only spent all this time looking for her because I wanted to steal her from your friend, even though I didn't even know your kind existed in the first place. If I'm sick because I want to be with someone who isn't mine, what does that make you?"

Jacob growled. "Our situations are nothing alike."

"Oh, but they are!" Nate let out another chuckle. "Don't you see it? You can't have her, never could—still, you've abandoned your family in yet another valiant attempt to show her how much you love her, but it's too late for you now. She's damned herself with his child; at the end of it all, she'll be dead, or she'll be dead to you. You're fighting a battle you simply can't win. The only real difference in our situations is the fact that you're a day late and a dollar short, and I'm not."

"You really don't know anything about imprinting, do you? There is no such thing as 'fighting' it; the second they looked at each other, you'd already lost. You might as well spare yourself the rejection and walk away before this little crush destroys you."

"It's not just a 'crush'," Nate shot back. "Do you know how we met? Huh?"

"No," Jake snorted, happy he got under the leech's skin. "Not that it makes any difference to the fact that you're screwed, buddy."

"I met Dakota in a mental health facility in Port Angeles. She had been there for a solid two months before I even got admitted, and she didn't leave until after I did, either. Want to know how long I was there, for reference?" The vampire leaned forward on the railing, his fingers threatening to splinter the wood beneath them.

"How long?" Jacob asked, humoring the boy in front of him.

"I was there for eight months, and every day of it was spent by her side. She cared about me when literally everyone else in my life abandoned me. Dakota was my saving grace in that hellhole. She sang to me when I would get angry, held my hand when I would cry—hell, she even attacked another patient with her lunch tray for throwing me into a wall. I don't care what any of you have to say about it: she loved me in some way, and I'm going to show her that same love back."

Although he wanted nothing more than to drag the bastard into the yard by his throat and rip him to pieces, Jacob had to admit to himself that he could somewhat understand where Nate was coming from. Instead of voicing that, however, he just rolled his eyes and scoffed. Imprints were impossible to break, and this kid was just going to make his eternal life even more miserable by trying to get between Paul and Dakota.

"Well, good luck with that," he said under his breath, climbing the steps and making his way into the little house. "Just hope you don't get yourself killed in the process."

Nate watched the shapeshifter until the front door closed behind him, and took a deep breath that he didn't necessarily need to calm himself down. In the time that had passed between his transformation and finally finding her, he'd realized that no one else in the world would understand him like Dakota did. Imprint or not, nothing was going to ruin that for him.

0o0

"How nice is this restaurant you're planning on dragging me to?" Dakota grumbled under her breath, knowing full well Paul could hear her on the other side of her door.

"Not crazy 'make-reservations-two-months-in-advance' nice, but substantially nicer than Rosie's," he called back, the smile evident in his voice.

As she dug through her closet, she still couldn't understand what the hell he meant by that. There was a large gap between those two distinctions, and she didn't want to be over or underdressed for the occasion. It had taken the better part of an hour for Paul to convince her to go along with it in the first place. The last thing she wanted to do was ruin the evening by looking like a slob or some high-maintenance princess.

With a heavy sigh, she closed her closet door and turned to her dresser. After what felt like twenty minutes of digging, Dakota managed to put together an outfit she was comfortable leaving the house with Paul in: a cream sweater that actually fit her, a maroon pair of jeans she'd always been too scared to wear, and a pair of combat boots Leah had handed down to her when the older girl grew out of them.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a few minutes, hoping like hell she didn't look like she was trying too hard, and threw on enough mascara to make it look like she actually had eyelashes. Part of her wanted to put on a little more makeup, but she was scared she'd screw it all up and look like a clown, so she stuck with what she knew. With a deep breath, she made her way to her bedroom door and swung it open.

"Situation appropriate?" Dakota asked him, gesturing to what she hoped was a decent ensemble.

Paul's face lit up in the most childish way imaginable, like he'd gotten exactly what he'd wanted from Santa on Christmas morning, and he nodded vigorously. "You look perfect, Little Bit."

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" She chided lightly, trying to ignore the way her stomach clenched at his compliment.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm still gonna call you Little Bit. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she chuckled, running her hand through her hair nervously. "I still don't get why you're doing this."

Paul slipped his hand into hers, beginning to lead her down the stairs as he spoke. "Well, you wouldn't let me call our trip to the tide pool our first date, so I figured we could have it tonight."

"Our _what?_ " Dakota practically choked on air, coughing a bit to cover it.

"First date," he replied simply. "You have no leg to stand on for this one. I invited you out to dinner with me, and you got all dressed up to go: it's a date, and there's no use in denying it."

Her face flushed embarrassingly dark, but thankfully he wasn't looking back at her for a reaction. "You're unbearable, Lahote," she grumbled, stifling a smile at his persistence. "I hope you know that."

"I'm obviously kind of bearable," he argued, grabbing her bag from the floor in the foyer and putting it on her shoulder with a smirk. "Or else you wouldn't be going on a date with me."

 _Oh, Jesus Christ, stop giving me that look,_ she thought to herself, burying her face in the bag in search of her cigarettes to calm her racing nerves. _I can't think straight when you do that, stop it, stop it, stop it._

"I can't help it that I'm handsome, Kota."

She squeaked in surprise, looking to him with wide eyes. "Oh, shit, I said that out loud?"

Paul nodded, a devious look on his annoyingly handsome face. "Only a little bit. Wolf hearing, y'know."

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Dakota muttered, lighting a cigarette with shaky fingers. "Well, I'm never speaking again. Or thinking. Or whatever the hell I just did."

"You can admit it, you know. You like me." His nose crinkled a bit when she let out a lungful of smoke, but surprisingly he didn't complain about it like he normally did.

"I wouldn't push it that far," she fired back, trying to hold on to some sense of control of the situation. "I _tolerate_ you."

"You sure about that?" He pulled his trademark smirk once again, even going so far as to shoot her a wink. Although she rolled her eyes at him, she had to sidestep him and make her way out of the front door to hide her gulp.

She was in too deep, that much had become painfully obvious to her. Although there was so much about Paul Lahote that made her skin crawl, there was something about being near him that made her want to settle into his side and never leave his freakish warmth. He practically always knew what to say to make her laugh or get her heart racing, and it was infuriating and addictive at the same time. As much as she didn't want to end up like her mom or Leah, part of her couldn't help but wonder if it would be worth the inevitable hurt to give Paul a real shot.

As he opened the passenger side door for her and helped her into her seat, she held onto his hand a little longer than she normally would. "If you want to so badly, we can call it a date, I guess. Just don't go getting any crazy ideas on me."

The shit-eating grin that was plastered on his face softened into something much more genuine, kinder. "It's a date, then," he said, squeezing her hand slightly. "I'm glad that's finally settled."

"I'm s-serious about keeping your m-mind out of the gutter, Lahote," she stuttered as he walked around to his side of the cab. "Seventh-grade dance level or less, you hear me?"

"Your doubt in my ability to be a gentleman is hurtful," he teased, closing his door and starting the engine. "But really, you have nothing to worry about, Kota. You're calling the shots here."

Although the CD in the radio drowned out whatever response she would've given, there wasn't a need for one. It was hard to wrap her mind around, but somehow, she knew he was being completely truthful with her. Instead of interrupting the music, she simply took Paul's free hand in hers and gave him the most genuine smile she could muster. They might need to take things slower than the usual couple, but on the way to the unknown restaurant, Dakota decided it was high time to give the guy next to her a real chance. He'd definitely earned it.


	15. Match Making

**A/N: This chapter took thirty million years to come out of my brain, and I'm so very sorry about that. I've been working 50+ hour weeks for a while now, and whatever free time I manage to find is usually spent sleeping, bathing, and occasionally stuffing food into my face. I had a bit of free time this morning to edit and post this, though, so here it is! Be warned, this chapter is full of emotions. Review! ~skydancer-earthwalker**

"Favorite movie?"

Dakota hummed under her breath for a moment before responding, " _Natural Born Killers. Reservoir Dogs. Pulp Fiction. From Dusk Till Dawn._ Anything Tarantino, really."

Paul raised his eyebrows at the blonde girl in his passenger seat, smirking. "Really? I assumed you were more of a Nicholas Sparks-type."

They'd finished their dinner over an hour beforehand, but had continued driving around talking until they ended up in the parking lot at First Beach. He still hadn't gotten around to telling her about the imprint, but he figured it would be better to do so in private rather than in the middle of a crowded restaurant. Dakota's face had lit up the second they'd pulled in, and she'd been taking photos of the water through the windshield as they talked. She finally lowered it when she spoke again, smirking right back at him.

"Although I am impressed you know the man's name, I can't say I'm a fan of his stuff. His stories are all too easy."

"What do you mean, 'easy'? Didn't a girl die of cancer in one of them?"

"Well yeah, they always have to throw in something to make you cry or else it's not a proper chick flick. I just can't stand how simple he writes his relationships—it's all a bunch of 'love at first sight' bullshit, as if looking at someone is enough to decide you want to be with them."

Paul choked on whatever he was planning to retort with, taken aback by what she'd said. She looked at him curiously, tilting her head slightly to the right. He tried again to speak, but still no words came out. His heart was beginning to pound furiously, and although he'd thought his body had lost the ability to sweat, his hands felt clammy.

"Are you okay?"

"Do you wanna walk? Get some air? I've got another jacket in the back you can wear so you don't get cold," he babbled, already opening his door and grabbing the massive coat. "It's really pretty out here, too, don't you think?"

Her confusion was still obvious in the set of her eyebrows, but she nodded anyway. He jogged around the bed of the truck, mentally cursing himself as he went. _What the fuck? Stop being weird, you're gonna freak her out,_ he chastised. When he opened her door for her, he pulled the biggest smile he could manage and hoped she would return it.

"C'mere, Little Bit," he said, already swinging the coat around her shoulders. "Can't have you getting sick on our date, can we?"

"Honestly, I'm more worried about you being sick—are you alright?" She stuffed her arms into the ridiculously large jacket, which dwarfed her to the point that she looked like the world's biggest burnt marshmallow.

 _Here goes nothing._ "Walk with me. I'll explain."

Although she continued to shoot him wary looks, she willingly slipped her hand into his and allowed him to lead her down to the water. They walked like that for a while, Paul trying to think around the thundering of his heart and Dakota watching him in anticipation. The moonlight glimmered across the water as it rolled into shore, everything was peaceful, and he realized there would be no better time to tell her than right then. There would never be an easy time to explain that he was eternally bound to the pink-nosed girl in step beside him, no simple way to tell her she could make or break his future with a few simple words. He had to get it over with, and hope to the spirits that brought them together that she would take it in stride as she had everything else.

"You remember the legends, right? The ones I told you on Leah's back porch that day?" Paul broke the silence, slowing to a stop and reaching for her other hand.

"Yeah," she drawled, furrowing her brows even deeper. "They're kind of hard to forget, considering everything that's happened."

"Well, I skipped over one because, at the time, I didn't think it was a good idea to tell you yet. It's been bothering me since. Have you ever heard the story of the Third Wife?"

Dakota nodded briskly. "I can't remember all of the details, but I've got the gist of it. She sacrificed herself to save Taha Aki and the tribe."

"Do you remember what happened to Taha Aki afterwards?" Paul urged, his eyes searching hers for any sign of recognition.

"No, I don't. What happened to him?"

"He couldn't return to his human body; his grief was too strong. He spent the rest of his life as a wolf protecting her body and then her burial place. The legends say that her death destroyed him so because she was his imprint, his soulmate."

"How did he know?" She asked. He could hear the quickening of her heartbeat beginning to match his own.

"When a wolf imprints, it's almost like seeing the sun for the first time—everything is different, brighter, more alive. Nothing matters to him like it did before, everything comes after her happiness and safety. Being away from her for too long is painful, but when he finally gets to see her it makes every second away worth it. He's bound to her forever, and will be absolutely anything she needs him to be as long it makes her happy."

Dakota was silent for a long time, turning to stare out at the water. "Sam imprinted on Emily, didn't he? That's why he left Leah."

"Yeah," Paul murmured. "He's not the only one, but his was the most dramatic."

"So there's no real choice in it, then? Just _poof,_ you're soulmates with someone you've never met before?"

He couldn't do much but nod at that. It was a huge simplification of things, but it was the way he'd first thought of imprinting, too. He couldn't fault her for thinking of it the same way.

She pulled her hands from his and stuffed them in the pockets of the huge coat, although Paul knew for certain his hands were warmer. "Who else?"

"Jared and Kim, Quil and Claire—"

"Wait, what the fuck? That's awful!"

"Right now, he's her big brother. He'll be nothing but her big brother and best friend for a very long time, and if she decides that's all the wants him to be later, then it'll stay that way. But fighting an imprint is almost impossible, like with Sam and Leah. It's never been done."

"I guess that's not so gross, then. You guys don't start aging until you stop phasing, right? So he'll just phase until she's old enough?"

"That's pretty much the game plan."

"Alright," she hummed. "Not too awful. Has anyone else imprinted, or is that all?"

 _Here goes nothing_. "I have."

She kept looking out at the waves tumbling in, but Paul heard her sharp intake of breath at his words. "What's she like?"

"Beautiful. She kind of reminds me of a doe—big dark eyes, cute little mouth, freckles—but she's much braver than one. I don't think I've ever met anyone as loyal as she is. She makes me happier than I ever thought I could be."

"She sounds great," she muttered, pulling the jacket tighter around herself. "I have another question."

"Yes?"

Dakota turned to face him, her eyes full of nothing but hurt. "Why would you spend all of this time trying to get me to like you if you knew that there was a chance it could all go to shit the second you looked at this girl? Why convince me to go on this date with you when you've got your soulmate somewhere? What the fuck, Paul?"

He blinked at her for what felt like an eternity. "Wait, are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," she exclaimed, throwing her arms up in anger. "It figures _,_ though! I should've known better than to make Leah's mistakes all over again. I knew this was gonna end badly, but _shit_ , I figured you'd at least try to sleep with me first—fuckin', Jesus Christ, I'm going home. This was a shitty idea. Goodbye, Paul."

With that, she ripped off his coat and dropped it at his feet, barreling past him as she marched back to the truck. Paul couldn't help but stare for a moment, shock freezing him in his place. By the time he'd gathered himself and chased after her, she was slamming the passenger door behind her as she adjusted her bag on her shoulder.

"Wait, Kota, where are you going?" He called out, running up behind her.

"The fuck away from here," she snapped, her voice thick with tears. The sound made his heart ache. "And the fuck away from you."

"Wait, hear me out! You've got this all messed up, Kota!"

At that, she did a complete 180° and came charging right towards him. She did her best to shove him back against the truck, which he allowed to happen. She kept her finger squarely in his face as she glowered at him, her face flushed and eyes rimmed in red.

"No, Paul, _you've_ got _me_ messed up! I'm not some bimbo you can toy with while you wait for your soulmate to warm up to you, I'm not going to be your practice dummy while you figure out how to make her fall for you like I screwed up and did. Fuck that, and fuck yo—"

Paul couldn't stop himself this time. He'd held it back for far too long. With a single swift movement he slipped her bag off of her shoulder and pulled her towards him, closing the distance between their lips somewhat clumsily. The jolt of energy that flowed between them made Dakota gasp, which caused a low growl to reverberate through his chest.

Kissing his imprint was even better than he imagined it would be. After her initial hesitation, she'd fallen right into step with him, her arms reaching up to latch around his neck and pull herself closer. His hands found their way to her waist and lifted her easily, spinning them around so instead she was against the vehicle.

Paul tried to convey every emotion she'd ever made him feel in that kiss: curiosity, adoration, anger, pure joy, the list was endless. It was the only way to make her understand. She bit somewhat roughly onto his bottom lip, making him growl once again. Every nerve in his body was firing wildly, and he decided he could spend the rest of his life kissing her like this if only she'd let him.

Far too soon for his liking, Dakota pulled away gasping for breath, her eyes mirroring the wild look in his own. There were dried tears on her face, but she was still the most stunning creature he'd ever been lucky enough to lay eyes on. _I love her,_ his mind bellowed repeatedly, _I love her, I love her, I love her._

"It's you, Dakota," he murmured, his eyes roaming all over her flushed face. "I imprinted on _you._ "

0o0

Five days had passed, and Dakota was still avoiding Paul. Her head had been spinning since he'd brought her home that night, and no matter how much medication she took, nothing could stop it. Her mind was being split in two, warring against itself in a way it hadn't in a very long time. Everything felt off.

"Imprint," she said aloud to herself, the word feeling heavy on her tongue. "Imprint. Soulmate. Imprint."

She curled her blankets tighter around herself, lying in her dark and empty room with nothing but her thoughts to keep her company. Her mom had tried to get her to come out to no avail, and although Paul must've called her a thousand times since that night, she'd eventually taken the battery out to avoid talking to him. She needed time to think, and she found that it was much harder to do that with him around.

Part of her was thrilled to know that she even had a soulmate in the first place. It took away a huge chunk of the nerves she'd always felt whenever she thought of the failed loves of those she surrounded herself with. No matter what, she would have Paul because the spirits had bound them together for life. There was no need to worry about him abandoning her.

But that made up a majority of her pessimistic thoughts, as well. If the spirits hadn't intervened as they had, would Paul have ever even noticed her? _No,_ she thought bitterly. _He would've kept chasing skirts until he died._ Dakota couldn't help but feel like he'd been given the short end of the stick. She'd gotten a beautiful, magical man who was devoted to her with ever fiber of his being, and he'd gotten stuck with a scrawny, shit-talking bundle of nerves with a mental condition that caused her to freak out at the most minor of provocations. It wasn't fair to him.

Then again, she found herself wondering if imprinting itself was fair at all. Leah and Sam had been so incredibly happy before he'd first phased and laid eyes on Emily. The two were talking about marriage, kids, buying a house together to raise their family in, and suddenly all of that meant nothing because of an imprint. Imprinting had been the 'it' that Leah had thrown all of her anger at, the first of many earthquakes in her life that had shaken her to the core. Dakota found it hard to find imprinting as beautiful as she would have otherwise, simply because she had seen its ugly side, too.

She missed Leah severely, but knew that this was one issue she couldn't go to her best friend about. Talking about imprinting to someone who'd been spited by it would do nothing but hurt the older girl, and that wasn't something Dakota wanted to do anymore than she already had. She wasn't angry with her for leaving anymore—she was jealous that she couldn't run from it for a while, too.

Her skin was crawling as she pulled herself out of bed and dragged her feet all the way to the bathroom. Her heart felt like it was going to erupt at any minute, and the vague sense of nausea that had recently come over her was beginning to gain strength. As she ran the bath water as hot as she could stand it, she wondered if it was the bond of the imprint that was causing her to feel so miserable.

While she soaked, she wondered who she could go to with her troubles. Her mom was working, and she'd skipped the past few days of school, so vaguely talking to Marnie was out of the question seeing as she wasn't allowed into work. Leah was an obvious no-go, and it wasn't like she could just blabber about mythical match-making to Dr. Gwen without finding herself locked back up in Port Angeles for however long they decided to keep her.

After she'd finished her bath, Dakota decided she didn't have much other option than to bite the damn bullet and reach back out to him. There was no point in sitting around letting her thoughts suffocate her when he'd been trying so hard to make things easier. He might've gotten stuck with a shitty soulmate, but she didn't need to try and make it any worse for him. If she felt as sick as she did, there was no telling how awful he felt.

Once she'd dried off and pulled on some jeans and a sweatshirt, she popped her battery back into her phone and dialed his number, hoping to whoever or whatever was listening that he would answer.

0o0

"How'd she take it?" Leah asked from her side of the ravine, resting her elbows on her knees as her legs dangled over it.

"First, she assumed I'd imprinted on some other girl. She tried to walk home, and when I stopped her she started screaming at me until I finally just kissed her. After that, she did that thing where she just…" Paul searched for a proper way to describe it, rubbing his temples in frustration.

"Just drew back into herself? Quit talking, looked at you but wasn't _actually_ looking at you?" Nate emerged from the Cullen side of the treaty line, mouth in a tight line. "It feels like she's a million miles away even though she's sitting right beside you."

Paul hated Nathan. He'd known that from the very beginning, but he was so desperate for help that he sunk to a level he didn't even know he was capable of. He asked a vampire for advice. "What do I do? How do I get her to talk to me?"

Leah cut her eyes at him. "Don't ask the enemy for help, Paul. That's an open opportunity for sabotage."

"You're protecting the enemy!" Paul exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. "I'll take whatever help I can get right now, no matter who it comes from. I'm going insane. It's been five days, Leah. _Five days!_ "

"Oh, poor puppy," Nate drawled, rolling his eyes. "If you can't handle her hurricanes, what makes you think you deserve the better parts of her?"

"I'm in love with her, that's what."

"Join the club, puppy. I've only got one t-shirt, though, so you might have to figure that one out on your own."

"Fuck you," he muttered back, too worn out to even muster up the energy to growl. "You have a schoolboy crush on my imprint, nothing more. It's time you got over it."

"Tell yourself what you want, mutt," Nate leaned his back against a tree, running a hand through his long hair. "I know you're panicking that she'll come to her senses and realize you never would've looked at her twice if you hadn't been some giant, magic dog."

"That's not true."

"Oh, it's definitely true, but tell yourself whatever makes you feel better. Leah, Esme sent me out here to let you know there's food ready if you're hungry."

"Why didn't she just call for me herself?" Leah asked with an accusatory tone in her voice, cocking her eyebrow at the newborn. Nate shrugged with faux innocence.

"Ask her yourself. I'm heading on back, might give Kota a call," he smirked at Paul across the ravine, waving. "See you around, sport."

"Burn in hell," came Paul's dry response. He then turned to Leah. "Is he always like this?"

"He's only _this_ unbearable when Kota is brought up. He really doesn't understand how imprinting works at all. He thinks he can break it, and he's pretty cocky about it. It's annoying."

"And I'm too drained to rip him apart, so the whole situation is screwed. I thought telling her was supposed to make everything easier. It just made everything a million times worse."

"My best advice would be to keep letting her know you're there. There's really not much else you can do," Leah said, rising to her feet. "I'm gonna go get food, and I suggest you go home and do the same. Shower, too—I can smell you from here."

"Thanks," he deadpanned, getting up as well. "I won't tell Sam I talked to you, okay?"

"Thank you. Good luck, yeah?"

"You too."

Although their words sounded a bit callous, they had both come to care for each other in a strange sort of way. Of course they'd always worried for each other's safety when they shared a pack mind, but when Dakota was added to the equation, things became a bit different. They didn't see eye to eye on practically anything but the girl's happiness and safety. It was somewhat weird, but they'd come to terms with it.

Not bothering with phasing to make his trip faster, Paul began to walk back towards the reservation, dragging his feet as he went. His head was throbbing, his throat was dry, and he hadn't slept more than six total hours since he'd last seen his imprint. His mind kept torturing him with the memory of their kiss, full of so much passion and care, then slapping him in the face with images of her tears. He knew telling her would be hard, but he never imagined it'd be anything like this.

Dakota had a tendency to be melodramatic, at least through any eyes that weren't hers. Paul knew it was probably just her illness causing her to act the way she was, but the thought didn't comfort him at all. If anything, it just made him feel worse. He could save her from anything else in the world, but he couldn't save her from herself. It wasn't like he could just reach in her brain and rewire it so it functioned the way it would without her issues; he had to wait until she came around on her own, no matter how much pain it caused him.

As he shambled his way through the woods, he felt the faint vibrations of his phone in his pocket. With a heavy sigh, he pulled it out and answered without even bothering to check the caller ID. "Yes, Sam?"

"It's me," murmured the one voice he'd been so desperate to hear. "How are you holding up?"

He froze in his tracks, his shoulders straightening as the invisible weight on them was lessened at the sound of her voice. "I'm… I'm not good, but that's not important. Are you okay, Kota?"

"You are important, Paul. And I'm, well, I'm not dead yet, so there's that."

"What do you mean 'yet'?" He was already turning in the direction of her home and running.

"Nothing like that," she reassured him, sighing. "I just feel like shit. I think it's the… imprint."

"You're probably right. Can I come see you? It'll help, I promise."

"I was calling to see if you would want to, but—"

"I'll be there in five minutes."

Paul was anxious to end the phone call so he could strip down and phase so he could run faster. His human legs felt like lead and he needed to move as quickly as possible. _She needs me, she needs me, she needs me,_ his mind repeated like a mantra. _She needs me, she needs me, she needs me._

 _Whoa, Paul, breathe,_ Jared's voice rang through the pack mind as he sprinted through the woods. _She's not going anywhere. Everything's gonna be okay._

Ignoring his brother, Paul skidded to a halt in her backyard, having reached her house much quicker than he'd anticipated. After he phased out, he yanked on his clothes and tried to push Leah's teasing insults to the back of his mind as he jogged to the front door. There wasn't any time for him to fuss over his dirty hair or even knock, however, for the second he cleared the top step Dakota swung open the door to greet him.

Her hair was still soaking wet, and she was wearing a ratty grey sweatshirt and a pair of old blue jeans. Those pitch black eyes he adored so much were puffy and pink, and her skin was practically translucent as it clung to her hollowed cheeks.

The last time he'd gone more than a day without seeing her, it had been for much longer than this. He had looked rough, he knew, but she'd seemed fine. This time was different, though. The imprint had gotten so much stronger since then, and it was written across her gaunt face. She looked absolutely miserable, and his throat tightened as he realized it was his fault she was suffering like she was.

"Hey," she breathed heavily, a tiny smile upturning the corners of her lips. "Do you want to come in?"

Paul didn't bother responding. Instead, he took her in his arms again, cradling her gently against his chest and burying his nose in her hair. He didn't think it was possible to miss someone so much over such a short period of time, but there he was, clinging to her like he hadn't seen her in years.

Much to his relief, Dakota wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, burying her face deeper into his chest. Her back rose and fell with a grand sigh before she spoke, her words muffled.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I don't know what I'm doing, or what I'm supposed to do or say, but I don't want to hurt you like this."

"Shh," he urged, reluctantly pulling her away from him and looking down at her face solemnly. "I'm not upset with you. You have nothing to apologize for."

Dakota sighed again, shaking her head. "Yes, I do. I pushed you away when you didn't deserve it and I can _see_ what it's done to you and that's not fair, and I'm so fucking sorry I can't even begin to explain it."

"Stop apologizing. C'mon, let's go inside before you get sick," Paul said, taking her hand and pulling her back into the empty house. "Have you been eating enough?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Paul," she blurted as he closed the door behind them. "I don't know if what I feel for you is just a product of imprinting or if it's my own doing, and I don't think you know the difference, either. You got stuck with me because of this whole thing and I'm not exactly the best person to be around and it's completely unfair to you—you should be able to choose—but instead you got tied to me and all of my problems and I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about all of it."

When she was done, she sucked in a deep, shuddery breath as if she were about to cry. Her eyes watered slightly, but she kept her steely gaze trained on Paul's, waiting for his response.

"When I first saw you at that wedding, do you remember what you felt when I looked at you the way I did?"

She shrugged. "Mostly confused, a little curious, I don't know."

"Did you instantly fall in love with me?"

"Well, no."

Paul gave a weak smile. "That's the thing about imprinting. It doesn't force the feelings at all—it just points us in the right direction. It's like this big ass neon sign pointing at you, blaring an alarm and screaming 'It's her, you idiot!'. I didn't instantly fall in love with you, either. I just knew that, eventually, I would. Imprinting just makes it easier to see."

Dakota studied him for a moment before sighing for a third time, running her hands through her dripping hair. "Are you saying you're in love with me?"

"Beyond a shadow of a doubt," he responded with sincerity. "But if you're not in love with me, too, I'll live with that. I wasn't exaggerating when I said your feelings come first, Kota."

"How did you know?"

"Know what? That I imprinted on you?"

"No. How did you know you were in love with me? What was the tipping point?"

He pondered it for a moment, trying to pinpoint one specific instance that made him realize what should've been blatantly obvious. "I think I knew for a while, but I didn't admit it to myself until the other night when you kissed me back."

Dakota gave a thoughtful nod, watching him as he fidgeted beneath her gaze. He envied the youngest Cullen and his ability to read minds, if only for a second. Paul desperately wanted to know what she was thinking as she chewed on her bottom lip so hard she threatened to break skin.

"What are you thinking?" He finally asked, unable to stand her silence any longer.

"I don't know if I love you," she said quietly, dropping her eyes to the floor. "It sounds so awful when I say it out loud."

He tried desperately to quell the tremors that rolled through his body, not wanting to scare her. "It's not something you can help. Sometimes it's just not there."

Immediately, her eyes shot back up to his. "That's not what I meant. I don't know what love even _is_ ,Paul; I've never seen it. I don't know if I love you, but I know I could. I just have to figure out what that means first."

It wasn't exactly the scenario he'd been hoping for, but it was such a grand relief to know that she returned at least a portion of what he felt for her that Paul's face split in a huge grin. The entire time he was there, regardless of what they were doing, his smile didn't fade. Progress was progress, and they'd just taken their biggest step towards what he so desperately needed.


End file.
